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THE BARONT 
.OF THE ROSE 



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CROSS Of THE CONFESSION. 



THE UNKNOWN SISTER. 





MARIE JUSTINE DE WATTEVILLE. 



ZINZENDORF WEARING THE DANEBROG ORDER. 



The Barony 
of the Rose 

A HISTORICAL MONOGRAPH 

By 
GRACE STUART REID 

Author of 

"AMERICANS IN EXILE" 




New York 
THE GRAFTON PRESS 

MCMIV 



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Two Copies Received 

APR 2 1904 

ClRS «. XXc. No. 

COPY a 



Copyright 1904 

BT 

GEACB STUART REID 



THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 



I!N" the year seventeen hundred and thirty-one John, Thomas and 
Kichard Penn received in trust for their half-sister a portion of 
the Seignory of Windsor in Pennsylvania. This was the gift 
of their father, William Penn, to his beloved daughter, Letitia 
Aubrey. 

Green pastures were Letitia's, and many deep, cold springs. Her 
land dipped, rolled and rose in the most charming fashion known to 
vale and mountain, and cro-wned itself with spreading, giant ever- 
greens. What could be demanded of Letitia Aubrey for her great share 
of the Lord's bounty ? She had but to walk each June under therippling 
leaves of her tall, pointed poplars and pluck one red rose. A rose from 
a rose was the rental, sweet and sufficient, for five thousand acres of 
Pennsylvania's most beautiful hill country. 

But a greater name than Letitia Aubrey's was to be associated 
with the Barony of the Rose — the name of one whose seal was a winged 
heart soaring above the globe with the motto, Astra petamus (We may 
ask the stars). George Whitefield has been called a flaming seraph, 
the apocalyptic angel, the apostle to Philadelphia. Upon the hatch- 
ments which mourned his death in his native England were the words, 
Mea vita — salus et gloria Christi (My life — the saving health and 
glory of Christ). 

A willing pilgrim, he called himself. Prom his boyish service at 
an English tavern, wearing the blue apron and snuffers of a common 
drawer, washing mops and cleaning rooms, he became a servitor to 
students of Pembroke College, was touched with religion and did pen- 
ance. He mortified vanity with woollen gloves, a patched govm, dirty 
shoes and unpowdered hair. He lived in Lent on coarse bread and 
sage tea without sugar, except on Saturday and Sunday. He lay 
whole days on the ground in prayer. He rose from his penitence to 
become a preacher to tens of thousands. Shut out from churches, lie 

1 



H, THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 

preached in the open air. On a table, on the stairs of a windmill, -with 
a mob threatening to make aprons of his gown, with the tail of his 
horse cut oif, it mattered not. He was the radiant preacher of the 
gospel of salvation. Enormous gatherings attended upon his unsur- 
passed eloquence. 

"On aurait pu marcher" says Kyle, "sur les tetes de la foule" 
(One could have walked on the heads of the crowd). 

Coaches and horsemen gathered at his field pulpit, and once he 
was half murdered with a gold-headed cane. Again he raised the won- 
derful compass of his voice in an Easter charge at Moorfields to a 
strange, immense congTegation of mountebanks, drummers, trumpet- 
ers and merry-andrews. He was a target for dirt, dead cats and rotten 
eggs. He was threatened with a whip. A recruiting sergeant marched 
through his audience with deafening instruments. The marvellous 
melody of his voice flowed on unquenched for three hours, and he 
retired triumphant, one thousand notes in his pocket from awakened 
sinners. 

What to him was the indignity of bells and clappers, of marrow- 
bones and cleavers ? Perpetual preaching, he said, was better than his 
physician's prescription of a perpetual blister for his quinsy. What 
though he streamed with blood from the stoning of the Papists in Dub- 
lin ? His motto pointed to the stars. His life was the saving health 
and glory of Christ (Mea vita — salus et gloria Christi). 

"Lord Jesus," he cried when death came, "I am weary in Thy 
work but not of Thy work." 

He was an old man when he reached fifty, worn out with his 
passion of piety. 

"No nestling, no nestling on this side Jordan," he cried. 

His winged heart, the emblem of his seal, had flown over the globe 
and craved it all for his Master. He crossed to America. He set out to 
preach along a journey of one thousand six hundred miles to Georgia. 
A ride, he called it, and said : Nil des-perandum, Chrisio duce auspice 
Christo (Nothing despairing, with Christ as a leader, Christ as a 
guide). He has left us his Forest Sermons and his approval of hunt- 
ing in our wilds after poor sinners. 

"I love to range in the American woods," he wrote, "and some- 
times I think I shall never return to England any more." 

The negroes asked him, "Have I a soul ?" He was filled with 
emotion. Years after, he still found it "the season to exert our utmost 
for the good of the poor Ethiopians." But he answered their question 



THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE 3 

at once, holding out both hands with the bread of life. He had made 
a convert in England who prayed so as to be heard several stories high. 
What must have been the effect of his rapturous ministry upon the 
dark children of the South ! 

He sought to alleviate their condition by a plan to bring some 
of their number iN'orth, there instruct them, and return them to their 
brethren as teachers. He decided upon Pennsylvania as the place of 
their education. His Creator, he had written, had a mountain for a 
pulpit and the heavens for a sounding-board. He laid his hand upon 
the beautiful Barony of the Rose and called it Nazareth. Among its 
pulpit hills and blue skies he began the building which is as often 
called the Whitefield House as the Ephratah House or simply Ephra- 
tah, though Whitefield did not complete it. A brick band in the lime- 
stone of the ivied wall marks the limit of Whitefield's effort for the 
education of the Southern negro in Nazareth. In the well-kept mu- 
seum of the Moravian Historical Society, which occupies its second 
floor, is a child's chair made by a negro. 

There is historical mention of a negro hostler in 1755 at the old 
town inn, the beginning of the present Nazareth Inn — called Der 
Gasthof zur Rose (The Inn of the Rose), or Die Rose (The Rose) — 
which owned a coat-of-arms bearing Letitia Aubrey's full-blown red 
rose. The negro hostler's name was Joseph — perhaps after "Brother 
Joseph," otherwise known as August Gottlieb Spangenberg, Episcopus 
Fratrum (Bishop of the Brethren), for twenty years superintendent 
of the Moravian movement in Nazareth's county of Northampton. We 
have the account of a free negro marrying — on gradual payment of 
fifty dollars with six per cent, interest^ — ^the mulatto woman, Ann 
Cherry, belonging to Brother Joseph and Peter Bohler, the latter be- 
ing one of the famous parents of Nazareth. 

But one can walk the length and breadth of Nazareth to-day 
and be startled at the sight of a black man. One in a month is a 
record, and this within a few hours' journey of New York and Phila- 
delphia, the former one of the most polyglot cities of the Union. The 
failure of Whitefield to introduce the race into Nazareth, the late 
Barony of the Rose, is a point of dispute : whether the workers left be- 
hind by him were frightened away by the Indians or whether pecuni- 
ary circumstances dismissed them. 

"I long to owe men nothing but love," wrote this unswerving lover 
of mankind, who had nevertheless set up housekeeping with borrowed 
furniture. 



4 THE BAKONY OF THE EOSE 

"I am to collect subscriptions for a negro school inPennsylvania," 
wrote William Seward, Whitefield's travelling companion, on the 
ninth of April, 1740; but William Seward was called away to a 
heavenly mansion. 

The glorious opportunity of Nazareth passed into the hands of 
another religious denomination, one which has furnished perhaps the 
most picturesque pages of Protestant church history, reaching its pres- 
ent simplicity through a strangely interesting exhibition of Protestant 
monastic orders. It has had its exultant martyrs. Its existence has 
been much pruned but triumphant. It has striven through all its 
course for personal sanctity, not through physical suffering, but 
through the most ingenious devices for peaceful and comfortable liv- 
ing. As a fading text in brilliant binding, the sunny little town of 
Nazareth still offers the church's old forms of worship and landmarks 
of its institutions. 

The summer boarder but seldom lands at its primitive railroad 
station. Its streets ai-e aisles of Fontainebleau trees crossed by Eng- 
lish lanes. German gardens are between its houses and spread in the 
rear in secret but real beauty. The brightest flowers are flanked by 
blue-gi-een regiments of cabbages and onions. Sometimes a surpris- 
ing extent of thick, feathering corn fields and apple orchards cover its 
undulating ground, this being a land of corn and apples. A fashion 
of white hydrangeas pervades the place, giving a curious air of fresh- 
ness and trimness to all the highways and byways. 

The town's most perfect apple — in shape and gTeens and reds — 
the "Countess's Own" — ^blesses with great boughs the lavra of the 
Saints' Rest, the Moravian retreat for superannuated ministers, back 
of the Whitefield House. Its brightest flower in the rain is a tall, 
flame-colored phlox planted by one of the most elect of the Moravian 
sisters on the close-clipped emerald lawn of the Whitefield House. 
Here was once the broad, black oak under which Peter Bohler held the 
first divine service in Nazareth. The tree has disappeared, but a 
remnant of it sanctifies the Moravian Museum on the second floor of 
the Whitefield House which Peter Bohler began to build for Whitefield 
in 1740. He had interpreted in German Whitefield's sermon at a 
Pennsylvanian farm house, and been engaged for the Nazareth enter- 
prise with two other Moravians he had brought from Georgia, he hav- 
ing led the first of the sect into Pennsylvania. 

The Moravian Church counted its pedigi'ee assured sixty years 
before the Reformation of Luther and more than a century before the 





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THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE o 

Anglican Church, laying claim to the early church founded by Paul in 
Illyricum and Titus in Dalmatia. Peter Bohler was a college man, a 
student of the University of Jena. The elegance and distinction of 
John Wesley, Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, and successful en- 
thusiast, was nothing to Peter Bohler. John Wesley introduced him 
to James Hutton, who is said to have been a scholar and a gentleman, 
a frequent and familiar visitor of George III. and Queen Charlotte. 
Bohler was also made acqviainted with the accomplishments of John 
Wesley's brother Charles, who taught him English. To Bohler, Hut- 
ton's greatest grace lay in his eventually becoming an ordinary 
of the brethren, in other words a high officer of Bohler's own 
church. Of John and Charles Wesley, Bohler wrote to Count Zinzen- 
dorf, the patron saint of the modern Moravian church: "I travelled 
with the two brothers, John and Charles Wesley, from London to Ox- 
ford. The elder, John, is a good-natured man : he knew he did not 
properly believe on the Saviour and was willing to be taught. 
Our mode of believing in the Saviour is so easy to the English that 
they cannot reconcile themselves to it ; if it were a little more artful 
they would much sooner find their way into it." 

Nevertheless, we all know Peter Bohler's influence upon John 
Wesley — the great monarch of evangelistic ministry — ^to whom White- 
field subscribed himself, "A child who is willing to wash your feet," 
though he gave Wesley many a heartache as the champion of Calvin- 
istic Methodism. 

"My brother, my brother," said Bohler to John Wesley, "that 
philosophy of yours must be purged away." 

John Wesley, on his way to preach to the imcon verted in Georgia, 
crossed on the ship which carried Bohler with other German Mora- 
vians and their bishop, to America. Wesley was blessed and disturbed 
thereby at the same time. Nor would he give Bohler credit for his 
full victory in acquiring the doctrine of justification by faith alone. 
As Tyerman records of him and the other Oxford Methodists, they 
said they were never clearly convinced that they were justified by faith 
alone, till they carefully consulted the homilies of the Church of 
England and compared them with the sacred writings, particularly 
"^ St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. 

Wesley's religious zeal feared at one time that his brother Charles 
was in danger from the transitory blight of Moravian "stillness." 

"The Philistines are upon thee, Samson, but the Lord is not de- 
parted from thee," he wrote. 



6 THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 

Yet he went to the cradle of the Renewed Moravian Church in the 
Ilerrnhut of that Saxony which was the cradle of the Reformation, 
and wrote to his brother Samuel : "I am with a church whose conver- 
sation is in heaven." 

Elsewhere he testifies: "The Moravians have no diversions hni 
such as become saints." 

A few months before Peter Bohler passed gently away in Lon- 
don, Wesley wrote to him his honest confession after the many breaks 
between him and the Moravians : "By the grace of God I shall go on, 
following peace with all men and loving your Brethren heyond any 
body of w,en upon earth, except the Methodists." 

Peter Bohler, Whitefield's workman and Wesley's enlightener, 
had the honor to be the first Moravian minister ordained by Count 
Zinzendorf, the apostolic father of the Moravian Church renewed in 
the eighteenth century, who claimed to hold in his episcopal hand the 
regular succession of ordination through the Ancient Church of Bo- 
hemia. It was his Countess who succeeded Letitia Aubrey as the 
second Lady of the Rose. In 1740 the Moravian Society received 
from Whitefield in London the transfer of Nazareth at cost price, re- 
imbursing him for such improvements as he had made. The Barony 
of Nazareth became the nominal property of the Countess Zinzendorf, 
it being the only manor sold by Pennsylvania proprietors with the 
right and privilege of Court Baron attached. 

The payment of Letitia Aubrey's red June rose devolved upon 
the Countess, that Holy Mother of the Moravians, Erdmuth Dorothea 
von Zinzendorf and Pottendorf , born the Countess Reuss. She sleeps 
under the shade of the lindens in the God's Acre on the Hutberg in 
Ilerrnhut, Saxony. We read upon her tombstone that her body lies 
there but for an "appointed while." As has been beautifully trans- 
lated by one of the clergy of the church "she was a princess of God 
and the foster-mother of the Brethren's Church in the 
XVIII seculo. The blood of Jesus Christ reconciled her ; His spirit 
quickened her and the (korn) vital spark of His (dead) body trans- 
figured her." 

The inscription, composed by her husband, Oo\m.t Zinzendorf, 
further gives one to understand, in a sentence of untranslatable idiom, 
that as this radiant Mother in Israel had absorbed Christ's life she had 
absorbed His death. In herself therefore was His, that is to say, her 
own, resurrection. She was probably a member of the order of the 



THE BAKOISry OF THE EOSE 7 

"Confession of the Sufferings of Jesus," of which we shall learn more 
in our survey of Nazareth. 

Her warm heart received an unalterable impulse when she ac- 
companied her young bridegroom on his first visit to the religious 
exiles sheltered on his estate. She saw him, in strong emotion, fall 
upon his knees among the grateful little band Christian David — ^that 
historic carpenter of blessed memory — had led from Schleu in Mora- 
via to Berthelsdorf in Lusatia, of which the pious young Count was 
master. Near the Hutberg (the Watch-Hill), Christian David had 
cleft the first tree for that unique settlement of a imique brotherhood 
which, as a quiet mountain spring, was to permeate many lands. 

"Thine altars, Lord of Hosts," was Christian David's cry of 
dedication. 

"May all the inhabitants stand upon the Watch of the Lord 
(Herrnhut)," said the Coimt's steward. 

The Coimtess, day by day, year by year, witnessed her husband's 
sacrifice of the opportunities and aggrandizements of his rank for the 
handful of holiness which took on the names of the Pilgrim Company, 
the Congregation of the Brethren, the Fratres Legis Christi (Brethren 
after the Law of Christ), the Congregation of Jesus, the Unitas Fra- 
trum (The Unity of the Brethren), the Johannische Gemeinde (Com- 
munity of Saint John) — that immortal renewing of the ancient Mora- 
vian Church which has come down to us by way of its Ecclesiola in 
Ecclesise (little churches within the church), its Diaspora or Inner 
Mission, to be a singular and picturesque organization for conversion 
without proselytism. 

The community of Herrnhut was as blessed in the devotion of the 
Countess Zinzendorf as was Whitefield's work in that of the peeress to 
whom he was chaplain, "that elect lady, that mother in Israel, that 
mirror of true and undefiled religion," the Eight Honorable Selina, 
Countess Dowager of Huntington and sister of the Earl of Ferrars. 
These two Madonnas might have shared congenial inspirations. 
Whitefield describes the atmosphere of Lady Huntington's abode: 
"Sacrament every morning, heavenly conversation all day and preach- 
ing at night. This is to live at court indeed." 

The Countess Zinzendorf's particular room was open court for 
everybody from five in the morning till eleven at night. In her spe- 
cial comer, marked with table and curtain, she presided, a motherly 
if not elegant figure, with all the bearing of her worldly rank. An af- 
fable queen of society, a brillant story-teller, she must also here have 



8 THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 

written, or in part conceived, the forty hymns which hear her signa- 
ture. Here, too, she must have sent her messages to her heloved daugh- 
ter, Benigna, who represented her in the neighborhood of Nazareth, 
the Barony of the Rose, a bud telling of the far-away flower. 

"Mother," "JTotre chere Maman," the Countess was familiarly 
called by her spiritual children. Even "Mamma" was for her a usual 
form of affectionate and not disrespectful address, as at the headquar- 
ters of the English Moravians at Lindsey House, Chelsea, the disciple- 
house where the Count reigned supreme over all bishops and elders, 
he was ruler under the name of "Papa." This is the pride that joys 
in humility, for the feudal claims of Count Zinzendorf are indisput- 
able, an unexpressed consciousness among all the brethren in Christ 
and insensibly cropping out in his own statements concerning the 
church of his affections. 

He writes of himself to the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1749 : 
"We, Lewis, by Divine Providence, bishop, liturgus, and ordinary 
of the brethren, and, under the auspices of the same, advocate during 
life, with full power over the hierarchy of the Slavonic Unity; Custoa 
Iiotulorum and Prolocutor both of the General Synod and of the 
Tropus of instruction." 

Bishop Spangenberg introduces him clearly as "Nicolas Lewis, 
Count and Lord of Zinzendorf and Pottendorf, lord of the baronies of 
Freydeck, Schoneck, Thurnstein, and the vale of Wachovia, lord of the 
manor of Upper, Middle, and Lower Bertholdsdorf, Hereditary War- 
den of the Chace to his imperial Roman majesty in the Duchy of Aus- 
tria, below the Ens, and at one time Aulic and Justicial Counsellor to 
the Elector of Saxony." 

I'his is earthly glitter beside the simplicity of his friend, John 
Wesley, or of that Nazarene Father, Peter Bohler. In his autobiog- 
raphy, the Count reduces his titles to "Lord Freydeck, Domine de 
Thurstain." He was Advocatus Fratrum (Advocate of the Brethren), 
or Lord Advocate of the Unitas Fratrum. He was Ordinarius, the 
most worthy Ordinarius we read on his tombstone in the beautifully 
shaded cemetery on the Hutberg, "Bishop and Brother," "A Prince of 
God," "The Eye of the Widow." He gently objected and signed him- 
self "The well-known little fool and poor sinner, Ludwig." In Lon- 
don he was simply "The Disciple." 

On the day he disembarked in the harbor of New York, Bovet 
tells us he annoimced himself as "Louis von Thurnstein," and was 
generally called "Brother Louis" or "Friend Louis." Thus he dawned 



THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 9 

upon Pennsylvania, seriously considering the entire renunciation of 
his secular dignities. Thus he passed through the Barony of Naza- 
reth, August 2, 1742, on his way to Patemi's or Tatamy's village to 
visit that historic representative of the five nations of Iroquois open to 
his labors in Pennsylvania. "The dear Indians," he calls them. 
Their claim to Nazareth had been disproved, but they had received 
payment as a gift. 

Patemi's village is now Stockertown. One sees it on the way to 
Nazareth from Easton on that obliging railroad whose little train 
shuttles back and forth on by-tracks to any station where a passenger 
requires to embark or disembark. One's patience would be exhausted 
if one's sesthetic sense was not kept lively by a station in a grape-arbor 
or an invasion of factory girls who smile and present arms to all the 
children present, playing themselves as big children among the seats, 
hiding each other's lunch baskets, laughing not ungi-acefully, and in- 
viting wayfarers at the stopping-places to evening picnics. All the 
freedom of Nora Creina is in their movements and all the Dutch of 
Pennsylvania in their dark eyes and pale, broad faces. Very opposite, 
very elegant, very distinguished in appearance was the Count who 
walked where they and we now may follow. 

Eyes turned to see Count Zinzendorf twice, and feet stood aside 
for him. The rank he banished from his name was indelibly stamped 
upon his person and carriage. Above middle size, carrying his head 
well in air, he was wont to run into imseen dangers, particularly the 
professional mendicant. He was in the prime of life when the Barony 
of Nazareth was favored by his presence, he having been born in Dres- 
den at the beginning of the eighteenth century. His figure expressed 
the comfortableness of his disposition. His eyes were a clear blue, 
keen, yet smiling. With the customary, shining directness of their 
glance, they must have dwelt on Whitefield's unfinished schoolhouse. 

The Count's voice was melodious as Whitefield's own, perhaps 
more expressive from the greater number of his accomplishments, per- 
haps of a deeper richness from the greater firmness of his physique. 
Never was given to social conqueror more captivating grace in the art 
of reading aloud. Who can question the secular power which accom- 
panied the scripture watchword he gave out each night to his church 
family at Herrnhut? "Nulla dies sme lined" (No day without a 
line) is a part of one of his most familiar portraits. What were the 
watchwords for the Barony ? Did the peace of its aspect move him to 
raise that noble voice in song ? Did its blue hills echo any of the pas- 



10 THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 

sionate if often incoherent beauty of his hymns ? Did he really stop 
at Ludwig's Rnh (Louis' Eest) ? We may not be given a direct an- 
swer, but we have the flower of his influence still blooming in the Bar- 
ony of the Eose, the last distinctive rose of Moravianism in America. 

He has been called by one commentator "poet, theologian, pastor, 
missionary and statesman." He was also a private tutor, a traveller in 
disguise, and a prisoner. He was an exile for conscience' sake, twice 
banished, forbidden for a time a residence in his beloved Saxony and 
finding shelter in Wetteravia, Frankfort-on-the-Main, Berlin, Geneva 
and London. His tranquil ending, however, was in Herrnhut whence 
he entered into the joy of his Lord in 1760, and where he yet speaks 
from the Hutberg (Hill of the Watch). 

"He was ordained to bear fruit," the above-mentioned admirable 
translator tells us from the Hutberg epitaph, "and that the fruit 
should remain," this "never-to-be-forgotten man of God . . . 
who tlirough the grace of God and his faithful, never-tiring service 
was the most worthy Ordinarius of the Eenewed Brethren's Unity in 
the XVIII seculo." He lies imder the Hiitberg lindens in the sacred 
row of Herriihut's most sacred dead. As in the newer cemetery in 
Nazareth, the trees are not scattered but marshaled in file about the 
open, sun-splashed squares of the dead. 

The Count reposes close under the linden guard. ISTear him rests, 
"in the hope of a future blessedness Avhich God will give," that cousin 
whom he wished to marry but who refused him, "in the Eenewed 
Brethren's Church a highly esteemed Elderess and faithful hand- 
maiden of the Lord." Here also, in the sacred row, not far from the 
Countess Erdmuth Dorothea, are the mortal remains of Anna Nitsch- 
mann — a name familiar in ISTazareth history in the Museum and else- 
where — "a true handmaiden of Jesus Christ. . . . Her service 
in the House of the Lord remains a blessing." She soothed the sor- 
row of the Coiint and suited his estate to his promiscuous duties by be- 
coming his second consort four years after the death of the Countess. 

The Count indeed has never been accused of deficiency of heart. 
The early errors of the Eenewed Moravian Church are usually 
charged to his overplus of affection, to the mingling of ardent imagi- 
nation with his pious fervor. With apparent consciousness of this he 
apologized himself for certain early abuses in the church, such as are 
only too likely to appear in any religious organization before its first 
enthusiasm has found its point of anchorage. He acknowledged that 
in his desire that all should become children at heart, he had too much 









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THE BAROXY OF THE EOSE 11 

encouraged in the Brethren childhood's outward gladness. To this 
manifestation of childlike affection he ascrihed those curious extremes 
of adoration, those startling symbols, those practices which brought 
human and divine too close and which are now all happily abolished 
— a dead leaf of history interesting only as the early endeavor for the 
present contrasting simplicity of the iloravian Church. But to the 
end the Count saw the Heavenly Father, the Crucified Eedeemer, the 
Divine Spirit, only through the medium of love. He is dead, this 
Apostle of Love, this example of the Johannische Gemeinde (Com- 
munity of Saint John), but his words are yet fragTant. We quote a 
few of his characteristic expressions : 

"The Son of God is my Saviour. I am sure of this as I am of my 
five fingers." 

"I have a passion and it is He — He only. 
"Let me give Him Love for Love." 

"I am a captive of eternal love running by the side of His tri- 
umphal chariot." 

"When he awakes in the morning," says Hutton on Zinzendorf, 
■"he is all sweetness, calmness, tender, harmonious with those about 
him ; and all day long he is busied in doing and contriving kindest 
offices for mankind. . . . L^sefully employed eight in twenty-four 
hours and frequently more. ... A man of no expense at all 
upon his person. . . . Fifty pounds a year enough for neces- 
saries." 

An unpretentious building in Herrnhut accommodated the do- 
mestic life of the Count for whom Xazareth erected the large manor- 
house, of marked conventional design, now the well-known school, 
ISTazareth Hall, but still familiarly dubbed, "The Castle." The Herrn- 
hut residence became the depot of the Moravian Archives. Its situa- 
tion on one side of a square points out the parent of ^N'azareth's old 
market-square. The latter — gTeen with grass, shrubs and trees, pink- 
and-white with hydrangeas, and with a fence of vines — finishes the 
picturesque business way of the little Pennsylvania town, the long, 
bountifully-shaded main street which resembles Herrnhuf s centre thor- 
oughfare bearing on its bosom the great road from Zittau to Lobau. 
A large garden, foreshadowing Xazarene style, was carefully laid out 
in the rear of the Count's Herrnhut residence and lovingly opened t-. 
the use of the community. 

•Tor," observes the Count, "there is no earthly father, but w>- 
are all brethren." 



13 THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 

"There is no mother-church on the earth," he says again, "but 
all the churches are sisters." 

"I do not believe in one great visible church," he further aflBrms, 
"but in a number of little chapels consecrated to the Holy Spirit." 

Here we have a word-picture, a clear explanation of that pecu- 
liar institution of the Renewed Moravian Church, the Diaspora or 
Inner Mission. In statistics published in January, 1899, the Dia- 
spora Societies (their name recalling the Dispersed Christians of the 
time of Saint Peter) included about 70,000 members. As the Re- 
newed Church had grown from the hidden planting of the Bohemian 
and Moravian fathers, this Inner Mission — a Salvation Army without 
drums and cymbals — sowed its seed among nominal members of the 
State Churches of Europe. It converted and sanctified without pro- 
selyting from any communion, looking for the spread of the true 
Church of Christ in all denominations, repeating the prayer of the 
world's High Priest : "That they all may be one ; as thou. Father, art 
in me, and I in thee ; that they also may be one in us." 

Though the modern Moravian Church has naturally fallen, es- 
pecially in the American branch, into usual lines of Church extension, 
the Count remained to the end the advocate of this unselfish form of 
expansion. Whatever the mistakes his warm temperament caused him 
to commit and heartily repent, and however shining the other lights 
of the Moravian communion, he still remains to us, in peculiar and 
picturesque type, the leading bishop of this organization of brotherly 
love. 

"May God," he prays at the consecration of Herrnhut's hall for 
worship, "may God prevent this house standing longer than it con- 
tinues to be a dwelling-place of love and peace to the praise of the 
Redeemer." 

So he always combines a pitying love with his ovei'powering sense 
of the suiferings of God : "We only seek to sprinkle all the churches 
with the blood of Jesus. . . . The God-man, one only Christ; 
His martyrdom is the sight of sights to our souls. . . . Por in 
His nail-prints we can see our pardon and election free." 

One finds the necessary admonition to the Brethren, "We say to 
covetousness, pride, avarice, 'You nailed our Lord to the cross.' " We 
find also the placebo: "If any seek to disturb or persecute us while 
under His protection, let him be aware of what it is to persecute Him 
and to disturb His rest." 

In his hymnology, he represents the wounded side of the blessed 



THE BARONY OF THE EOSB I3 

Saviour as "sparkling with an everlasting blaze." In the same the 

Sir oVn^ '''''^' '-- ''' ^-^^ -' '-^y °^ --'^ - 

h..in? ^T^''^''T" °^J^"«'" i« ^^^ inspiring invocation at the 
b gmnmg of a circular written to all the Brethren at home or dis- 
persed, whz^he IS detained by contrary winds on his voyage to Penn- 
sylvania. He ends the letter with his ever-present thoufhtV "Lord 

p erced side , Thy agony and sweat ; preserve the Church Thy Bride 

till Thou comest again ; Prince of Life, once slain '" 

witJ, S '"'"' ^™^ ^°->'5°«d ^i« J^i^d had been unceasingly occupied 

::ltt: tryir' ''-'' -' ''' ^^^— • ^^^ ^-'^^^ -ly 

"0 head so full of bruises. 

So full of pain and scorn. 
Midst other sore abuses 

Mocked with a crown of thorn ; 
head, ere now surrounded 

With brightest majesty, 
In death now bowed and wounded 

Saluted be by me !" 

But strange German phlegmatism balanced his still more Ger- 
man emotions. He could receive upon his intellect and inneZostroi 
a full manifestation of the Passion and the Crucifixion. Se oTd 

S^Jdot of the r^ countenance. He went forth to battle for the 
crr&r/j/ . ??^fi''"' T to prescribe penance. He cried, "Salve, 

weZon o^be "^ ^ T' ^" ^^'^"^ '''''' °^ '^^^n, but with the 
weapon of the sufferings he bound the branch of love 

01 Ixrief and Gladness); so come other of the Brethren- so comes 
Moravianism to the ^t World, to Pennsylvania, to the young Zu 

tt' l3r°r''' 'T''^ °' ^'^ ^^^- S« also," amo% the ^ 
attei s pleasant borders, relics are numerous of that early weapon of 

the Moravian Church, the so-called "Blood and Wounds'^ Theolol" 

In the museum, at the Ephratah or Whitefield House as also in^he 

baseme t of the present church, are to be seen a full exh bit n of th 

Divme Sufferings, the heavy colors of the paintings deepen d by t 



14 THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE 

and suggesting the awe and mystery of the Passion. Nazareth was in- 
debted for its picture study principally to Valentine Haidt of Dantzig, 
an artist educated in Dresden, Venice, and Rome. His work was used 
in the teaching of the first church as well as the school, Nazareth Hall. 

We find in the Pennsylvania Mazagine that Hannah Callender, 
the Quakeress, speaks in the diary of her travel in 1758 through Naza- 
reth of a large hall in the school murally adorned with the life of the 
Saviour, six paintings representing Him at full length. In the house 
devoted to the widows of the community she sees the birth and death 
of the Saviour pietorially displayed. She says she finds the same ob- 
ject lesson permanently placed in the general meeting-room of the set- 
tlement. Her Quaker feelings are not wounded by this religious 
method. As with the Count, Grief and Gladness, Repentance and 
Good Living, are made to supplement each other. She finds the Mora- 
vian Barony a goodly farm. She admires the water-works, the milk- 
house, and the fine oxen. Some of the Sisters, the true Ladies-of-the- 
Rose, welcome her with a treat of peaches. She thinks it nice to find a 
Castalian fount walled in a sort of room which gave it a romantic air. 
She saw tame trout in a spring fed by hand and allowing themselves 
to be taken from the water by one of the Brethren. She drank a dish 
of tea in the Guardian's-Room opposite the Chambers of the Single 
Brethren who, she says, "pleased and diverted themselves by looking 
at us." 

The Single Brethren's House in Nazareth, very Quakerish in its 
simplicity, is no longer dedicated to celibacy, though appropriately 
occupied by the Custodian of the Museum, the former parochial school- 
master, who taught in the second church of the settlement, the church 
of 1840. The latter's pretty colonial side-door looks out upon the 
broad green square of Nazareth Hall, which slopes in perfect verdure 
up to the terrace before the main building of the Hall, the Count's 
manor-house, known through the town as "The Castle." Here were 
inculcated those lessons in Moravian history which gave a feeling and 
appearance of individuality to the Nazarenes. That they were reve- 
ently and industriously taught, one has but to meet the teacher who 
guards the relics in the Museum as the holy things of the tabernacle 
and has all Moravian monuments through the States at his tongue's 

tip- 

For Nazarene individuality of appearance, which means above 

all a peculiar pride of carriage, two miniatures in the Museum fur- 
nish a good example. For in this little jewel set among the hills an 



Jfii.'O 1 




-??ir^? 



NAZARETH: DOOR OF 184O CHURCH. 
Drawn by M. C. W. Beid. 



THE BARONY OF THE EOSE .15 

unbiased stranger cannot but see among its shining lights a very- 
pretty showing of baronial dignity united with the reserve and sim- 
plicity of religionists. jSTazareth retains the original reasons of its 
selection for a separate community. We climb one hill and find 
apparently a retired minister who is not even particular about the 
"Reverend" before his name. "Why should he be ? He is really a 
bishop in deportment, cultivation and attention received. He stocks 
his house, almost imperceptibly, with books and pictures. He adds 
frugally but in a determined way to his acres. His wife tends his 
grape-vines and makes babies of the fruit in swaddling bags. She 
spreads out her flowers till Elizabeth in her German Garden has 
nothing to compare. Above all, she cultivates her blossoms for the 
memory of her dead. She rises early and makes her oifering each day 
?.t the "breast-stones" on the small green plateaus which, in imitation 
of Herrnhut, are j^Ta^areth's gTaves. She walks down the hill to the 
town by her companion's side, as united and proudly erect as Carel 
Van Moor's "Burgomaster of Leyden and His Wife." They have a 
gracious word for everybody, but they give not the slightest quarter to 
Sabbath-breaking or anything but hill-top living, and this kind of 
Moldavian refinement may be merely the armor of spirituality, calm- 
ness of demeanor being often the pride which hides the bitterest trials 
in the world. 

Of a summer evening one may see a Baron (in bearing) walk 
across the town square. His eye pierces the blue sky more proudly 
than any of the town's three steeples — ^^vhite pencil-point, black pencil- 
point, and white-and-green jaw-tooth tower. The hydrangeas rustle as 
if they were Court ladies, for a little Baroness is on hand, holding out 
her dress as if she were going to curtsey — but to nothing lower than 
the stars, which seem to be always out in ISTazareth. They look down 
on a people apparently above their opportunities, who, perhaps with a 
more valuable Moravian legacy, have inherited that "stillness" which 
Wesley deprecated. 

Undoubtedly in this religious nest among the hills is an artist 
■\^'it]i that inborn gift for color which no world culture can give. Here 
is therefore in a long series of sketches of excellent composition and 
fine tone as graceful an impression of Pennsylvania scenery as history 
could desire. Here is also a true Saxony inheritance in love of porce- 
lain color — a group of china paintings of trees and houses so delicate 
and unmechanical in conception and execution, with such an unusual 
presentation of atmosphere and soft effects that one is astonished. 



16 THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 

Here is also Meissen ware — divided, miniature compositions — imi- 
tated with extreme conscientiousness and confirmed in a kiln on the 
spot. 

This refined work is from the busy hands of those whose spiritual 
and sometimes related ancestors were burned at the stake, tortured 
till blood spurted from nose and mouth, imprisoned in stables, cellars 
and dungeons, made to stand in freezing water, chased into dense for- 
ests, and yet told to rejoice that, though apparently so exposed and tor- 
mented, they were really "hid in the clefts of everlasting love." It is a 
far story from the gentle art of modern I^azareth to those painted 
devils which the Bishop of Constance ordered to be put around the 
head of John Huss from whose martyred holiness rose the Brethren's 
Church. It seems a far story also, in comparison with this new Mora- 
vian painting, to the time when Hutton tells us concerning the Count : 
"Many bulls of Bashan round about as brute beasts without under- 
standing roared madly against him ; and by daubings and grotesque 
paintings described him as a Mohammed, a Casar, an impostor, a Don 
Quixote, a devil, the beast, the man of sin, and so forth." 

"Salve, crux heata, salve!" ("Save, thou blessed cross, oh, 
save!") sang the Count in the midst of his persecution. So his fa- 
vorite symbol of the cross lingers in our little American Barony down 
to the picture, "The Making of Pulaski's Banner," which is found in 
the Museum. A representation of Calvary is in the backgTound of the 
picture — a bald hill and a rough cross with the crucified figure indis- 
tinctly supported by its rude arms. In the foregTOiind a group of 
" Moravian Sisters in the distinctive dress of the community embroider 
the banner presented to Pulaski at the time he recruited for his famous ' 
legion from Northampton Coimty — the banner which, dedicated with 
tears and prayers, became his shroud. 

Longfellow has written of these makers of the banner as nuns, 
which they were only in consecration to church duties and prescribed 
attire. Whether Pulaski escaped heart-whole from his intercourse 
with them we do not know. The refinements of religion and the 
daintiness of the Moravian uniform made them peculiarly engaging. 
We are not, therefore, surprised to hear that in this neighborhood u 
romantic attachment existed between Lafayette and a pretty Moravian 
Sister who died a spinster in 1831. In Herrnhut such pious grace, 
when unattached to defending man, was protected in community- 
houses with common refectory, dormitory and prayer-hall. These 









O 




THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 17 

■were called Choir-Houses, miisic being only second to prayer among 
the beloved customs of the Brethren, now as then. 

"Simday, after evening service," we are told, "all the unmarried 
women walked round the town singing praise, with instruments of 
music ; and then, on a small hill, at a little distance from it, knelt in a 
circle and joined in prayer; after which they joyously repaired to 
their respective homes." 

The Single Sisters' House in ISTazareth now belongs to the school, 
isTazareth Hall. The building is a side-gaiard of the Count's Castle. 
More interesting and antique in its rear than its front aspect, the lat- 
ter has, nevertheless, the advantage of being seen across the Castle's 
great lawn and is giiarded by a rare and beautiful imported box tree. ■ 
Zinzendorf's last composition was a lyric poem for the festival of the 
Single Sisters. There were Choir-Houses also for the Widows as well 
as for the Widowers and the Single Brethren. At the Widow-House 
in Nazareth, Vespers of coffee with the famous Moravian sugar-cake 
began at two o'clock. Theodora, the Count's first love, was General 
Elderess of the Choirs of Widows. At one time, upon receiving pre- 
scribed letters from all the widows in Herrnhut, he found a few not 
sufficiently humbled under a sense of sinfulness. 

But very congenial to the Count's religious wishes must have 
been such letters as he received from the ISTorth American Sisters. We 
quote a few of the sentiments to which he must have responded with 
emotion, a vivid sense of the Incarnation being always present with 
him. They refer to the love of Christ as a distinguishing, not a gen- 
eral gift : a gift to be personally reciprocated by each of these Mora- 
vian Sisters: 

"May He often sprinkle me with His blood and keep me like 
Mary Magdalene, at His feet." 

"We have vowed to feed every day upon His sufferings." 
"We feel His lovely nearness." 

"Gladly would I become meet for Him that He might soon take 
me to Himself." 

"I often weep . . . and feel a longing desire after Him." 
In the Picture-Collection of the Archives at Herrnhut these 
"Handmaids of the Congregation," as they are sometimes designated 
on their tombstones, are fitly represented in reserved but benevolent 
expression by the "Unbekannte Schwester" (Unknown Sister). Her 
cap of a hundred years ago is the same in style as that still worn in 
Herrnhut. Beneath her chin is tied the bow of ribbon ordained in the 



18 THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 

beginning for the Sisters, blue for the married, pink for the single, and 
■white for the widow. The changing of the color of the knot, the pro- 
moting from one Choir to another, is still a time of interesting re- 
ligious ceremony in Herrnhut. A Herrnhut cap of exquisite stitches 
is a treasure in Nazareth where the local caps in the Museum are ac- 
curate down to a baby Moravian's nightcap. They differ from the 
Unknown Sister's in their crimped border coming over the point for 
the forehead and in the scallop shells to cover the ears. A worldly dis- 
play of big tortoise-shell combs looks do-\vn on them from the walls, and 
the Nazareth Church makes ornamental sun-bonnets instead of caps, 
calls them "peekaboos," and sells them for twenty-five cents apieca 
to heretic or faithful. 

As white as the linen rags which the women of the Barony pre- 
pared for the soldiers of the Revolution, as white as the kerchief laced 
in upon the stiffly-bodiced figiire of the Unknown Sister, were the robes 
of all the Sisters at Zinzendorf's funeral. They had been nimibered 
with the Brethren among the hundred attendants in the death-cham- 
ber and adjoining apartments at the time of the Count's joyous disso- 
lution. 

They were included in the rapturous exclamation: "We are to- 
gether like angels ; and as if we were in heaven." 

They heard the heavenly departure announced to the Community 
by the trumpeters. They looked for the last time upon the earthly face 
of their Father in Christ as he lay in his purple coffin clad in the white 
robe pertaining to the sacred functions of his office. At a sigTial from 
the trumpeters, they witnessed the bringing out of the body from its 
late domestic home. They joined in the solemn hymn of proclama- 
tion. They followed, with the Choirs of the Brethren and the Choirs 
of the Children, the mournful lament of the trumpets — more mourn- 
ful than any wailing pibroch among the most desolate hills of Scot- 
land — across quaintly picturesque Herrnhut, on the familiar footways 
of the departed one, \ip to the green silence of the Hutberg. Their 
Great Choirs spread in white angelic circles under the beautiful lin- 
dens and ministered with singing to the sorrows of the Community as 
the purple coffin was committed to the grave. 

Just as purple are the violets on the borders of the Cemetery in 
Nazareth, and just as plaintive are the trombones which announce 
death. They lead the funeral processions to the Evergreen Ceme- 
tery or New Hu.tberg, on the hill. They mourn over the burying of 
the deserted body with a solemn, slow, accentuated music, re- 



THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE 19 

sembling a Gregorian Chant. The heavy tread of imnmtable death is 
in the sound, and one is filled with utter hopelessness. The dirge 
ceases, the mourners depart, and a stranger is deeply impressed with 
the peculiar expression of rest in the whole plan of the cemetery. No 
standing monuments, no recording of earth's ambitious titles, mars its 
quiet aspect. Here all are Brethren. As in Herrnhut's God's Acre, 
there are no trees or shrubs among the graves. 

The sun shines magnificently on the great open spaces where the 
dead sleep in regiments. Married men are buried together as are 
married women, single brethren, single sisters, and children. Hus- 
bands and wives are thus separated, as are also parents and offspring. 
The older children who have romped and laughed and broken their 
parents' hearts by dying lie here with a little company of the still-born 
and the short-lived, those blighted hopes which are nevertheless count- 
ed blessed, the unchristened boys being each, with his scanty dates, 
designated as Beatus, the girls as Beata. Wonderful, tall trees — old ' 
but im-n-ithering — stand sentinel about the squares in this garden of 
the Lord. The spongy sod, giving underfoot, is always green and 
richly odorous of loam and moss. It does not tell of the careful blast- 
ing that has been necessary always to make a new gTave without dis- 
turbing the neighboring mounds. These look as if born in shape for 
their recumbent breast-stones, the latter scrubbed to immaculate white- 
ness in the early dawn, when there are living left to remember the 
dead. 

Very early is the dawn when Easter is announced by the trom- 
bones from the open-windowed belfry of the church. The first melody 
of the day is slowlychanted by the far-reaching wind-music : "TheLord 
has arisen, He has indeed arisen." By sunrise, the pious living have 
assembled with their dead in the gi-aveyard, forming in procession 
from the church at the passage in the Easter litany, '-'Glory unto Him 
who is the resurrection and the life." The tombstones have been 
cleaned, the sodding is new and many flowers speak of the love that 
knows no separation. The music of the dolorous slide-horn is supple- 
mented by one of the most individual and interesting services in Chris- 
tendom. Whitefield objected in 1753 that the Moravians in Herrnhut 
should walk round the graves of their deceased friends on Easter dr.v. 
attended with hautboys, trumpets, French horns and violins. Very 
simple in its solemn cadence is the Easter music of the Brethren to- 
day. The service is the expression of immortality and the resurrec- 



20 THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 

tion. The dead of the past year are commemorated as "gone home to 
the Lord." 

"Oh, to end life well !" was Whitefield's earnest cry, and surely 
this gospelized people have furnished sufficient examples of the last 
victory to please his zealous wishes. 

All the members of the church have been told to consider them- 
selves descendants of the martyrs, and adjured to seek the "true and 
peculiar jewel of their Unity," and the name that "no man knowetli 
saving he that receiveth it." So a modern martyr appears in Herrn- 
hut who gives away a profitable business to an unsuccessful brother, 
subsists scantily himself, and — winter and summer — sleeps with the 
poorest of the Single Brethren on a hard floor, notwithstanding the 
rebellious weakness of his body. The pen drops from his hand as he 
writes his last testimony : "I sink down before Jesus and His Congre- 
gation." Composed and serene, he leans back in his chair and awaits 
the approaching moment of his dissolution, ejaculating: "My Saviour, 
Thou well knowest that I love none but Thee ! I love Thee with my 
whole heart, this Thou knowest !" He breathes out his few allotted 
hours and exclaims several times: "What glorious splendour !" 

The CongTegation are apprised of his passing. They are ardent- 
ly singing together of the eternal reward of the servants and hand- 
maids of the Lord, as one of the co-elders of the dying saint imparts 
to him with imposition of hands the blessing for his departure. He 
gently dies under the words : "Now, much beloved Brother, depart in 
peace." The news of the death is received by the singing Brethren 
and Sisters with indescribable emotion, but they offer up thanks to the 
Head of His Church for the grace given to "His now perfected ser- 
vant." He is only in his thirtieth year when he is carried by the Help- 
ers to the Hutberg. 

There, awaiting the day of resurrection, rest the mortal remains 
of August Gottlieb Spangenberg, Bishop' of the Brethren. We have 
already alluded to him as Superintendent for twenty years of the 
Moravian movement in Nazareth's County of JSTorthampton. To this 
place he further attached his name by taking a vsdfe there in 1754. 

We read in Ledderhose that he said of ISTazareth in February, 
1752 : "Nous recueillons le fruit du sang de Jesus'' (We harvest the 
fruit of the blood of Jesus). 

We read further of his death in September, 1792 : "Ses coUegues 
Hani venus chanter aupres de son lit, ce hien-aime pere s'endormit 



THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 21 

. sa face rayonnante" (With his colleagues singing around his 
bed, this well-beloved father fell asleep . . . his face radiant). 

We gather also for our study of Moravian death-beds that the 
mother of Susannah Kiihnel, the picturesque girl-preacher, went over 
with uncoinino7% cheerfulness. 

A pathetic little record has been kept of the children whom the 
Coimt and Countess lost. The Count is. said to have looked upon his 
little ones seriously, as fellow-laborers in the church. So we are not 
surprised to find him taking the front place in ministering to their 
departure. We read that Theodora Caritas lifted up her right hand 
and put it over her face as she was accustomed to do when she wanted 
to go to sleep. The Count placed his over that of his child and 
prayed as her happy spirit fled. This fledgling of the Herrnhut faith 
was two years and six Aveeks old. She could render some of the most 
difficult tunes in the Brethren's Collection without a mistake, and 
learned entire hymns. An eye-witness affirms that at eighteen months 
she turned in her cradle at the announcement of her brother Ernest 
John's approaching death and sang: 

"Thou art going away from sorrow. 
It will all be bright to-morrow." 

Little Jane Salome, who died at five years, could control her 
naturally imperious temper instantly if told that the Saviour would 
be displeased. She exclaimed how joyful to be with Jesus, bade her 
parents good-by, saying she wanted to go to sleep, and died while they 
sang her favorite hymn. As Wesley's Moravians told him in the ship- 
storm on the way to Georgia : "Our women and children are not afraid 
to die." Indeed they sang louder as the storm grew. 

It gives one a pleasant sense of nearness to this child consecra- 
tion to find in the Nazareth Museum one of its records from ISTew 
York, a broken tombstone from the site in old Dutch Street now oc- 
cupied by the Downing Building. With the epitaph is the testimony 
from the family record of the Senior Bishop of the Moravian Church, 
in January, 1822, to the heavenly safety of the two lambs commem- 
orated. The boy, we are told, though only four years old, was "bap- 
tized in the death of Christ and went home happy into the arms of his 
eternal Bridegi-oom." The little Single Sister, Elizabeth, followed 
her brother. 

"It pleased the Lord," writes the Bishop, "to call her home in her 



23 THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 

third year, also very happy calling on Him with her last breath: 
'Come, dear Saviour, and fetch little Betsy !' So we can set our seal 
to the truth, by the experience of those two babes, of that portion of 
Scripture that out of the mouths of babes and sucklings He hath 
ordained praise to himself." 

So it is in the Nazareth cemetery : 

"The bud on earth, 

The flower in heaven." 

We read there: 

"This lovely bud, so young and fair. 
Called hence to early doom, 
Just came to show how sweet a flower 
In Paradise would bloom." 

And again : 

"His broken lang-uage charmed our ear. 
His little fait' ring tongue ; 
But now! let this the mourners cheer, 
How sweet his heavenly song !" 

And yet again : 

"Thy little suff'rings now are o'er. 
Thy little head shall ache no more ; 
Thy little race on earth is run, 
Farewell but for a time, my son." 

Thus the little Brethren and the little Sisters arei affectionately 
buried, each of the two groups in a sunny square marked by the two 
crossing, tree-bordered paths. These lie apart from their once proud 
and eager mothers who sleep in their separate plot: Frederica, Ere- 
minda, Franciska, Ebesenia, Almaretta, Seraphina, Araminta, Eos- 
ina, Theresia, Lucia, Angelica, Salome, Philippina, Cecilia. Arabella, 
Lucinda Aurelia, Agnes Hortensia, Valeria Jane, An Elizab, 
and many more of varied naming. We find the married woman witli 
her Single Sister name designated before her husband's and prefixed 
by the letters m. n. (maiden name). 

These were the women whose lords and masters, the simple 



THE BAKONY OF THE EOSE 23 

breast-stones tell us, were of the Pilgrim Company who came to thislast 
rest from the far birthplaces of Pilgerruhe in Surinam, Switzerland 
(Swisserland), Barbadoes, Poland, Yorkshire in England, Zauchten- 
thal in Moravia, Alsace, Saint Margarethen, Charma in Bohemia, 
Palatine JSTiskey, Saxonia, Guinea, and from other devious ways. 
Here are the first settler names which still linger in the town, such as 
Stout (Staudt), Beitel, Popplewell and Kern. These are assorted 
with a Bruce, a Benjamin Franklin, Peter Penn, Adam Daniel, John 
Jacob, Benezett, and even a Musselman, the latter marked Beatus, his 
one lone, Christian-Mohammedan year off-set among his elder Breth- 
ren by a life of ninety-nine years. 

The first burial in this quiet haven took place on February 14, 
1756, an older cemetery having become a dangerous spot for funeral 
processions and Moravian services owing to the French-Indian war 
against the English. Upon the older site the Moravian Historical So- 
ciety erected a memorial shaft on June the twelfth, 1867. It bears 
the names of all the first burials of the settlement, the records of the 
clergy being authentic and carefully preserved long after the gi-aves 
in the surrounding grass have been all but obliterated. It commem- 
orates "one of the first members from Herrnhut," as also victims of 
Indian murder and converted Indians, one of the latter offering in 
her name, Benigna lioseen, a suggestion of that Benigna of Herrnhut 
who sanctified these jiarts with her presence. 

One is likely to hear this erection spoken of as "Sarah's Monu- 
ment" by the commonplace — that is to say, the not wholly consecrated 
— Moravian. One is told that an Indian "widow" lies up there on 
the hill, that on certain stormy nights her spirit returns to jSTazareth. 
Then, if she is asked, "Sarah, what would you give to come back to 
ISTazareth ?" she will ungi-atefully answer in scornful, hollow tones : 
"ISTothing!" One mounts the hill to the monument, full of historical 
curiosity, and finds the "widow" to have departed at the age of four ! 
We are aware that marriage has always been a sacramentum magnum 
with the Moravians, that divorce is practically unknown, that their 
husbands are kind and their wives contented; but a widow at four 
must have been a man-eating Indian indeed whom it was necessary to 
convert. 

As Herrnhut was taught that there were no apparitions among 
true Brethren, we comfort ourselves that Sarah the Ungrateful exists 
only for worse than we. The view from her monument is one of blue 
raoTintains and cultivated valleys at their best. We have come up 



24 THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE 

through a perfect piece of wheat-land. We have crossed from one 
sunny, waving field to another by a number of high, well-built stiles. 
Their platforms and the field-borders are rich with shade and foliage. 
Trees and Sarah, the late Indian, remind us of Bishop Spangenberg, 
or Brother Joseph, whom the Indians called ''T'gerhitontic" (A row of 
standing trees). "Les IndiPMS," observed Brother Joseph, according 
to Ledderhose, "nous out regu comme Ics cmges de Dieu" (The Indians 
received its as angels of God). 

"Noeh! Attoh!" were the cries of assent with which they are said 
to have listened to the "predicants ambulan-ts" (itinerant preachers). 
In the small morning hours of a Nazareth Monday, it is well for the 
timid to shut their windows to cries of assent and dissent. The air 
pants under a slaughter. The early ISTazarene washerwomen send 
Pennsylvania Dutch, or, as they have written about it in Leipzig, 
Pennsylvannische Deitsch — ^that scandalous marriage of High Ger- 
man and debased English — flying across their fences. One wonders if 
the race of the Wolf Indian, the Minsi, or if the ISTanticokes have re- 
turned. One is not surprised to hear that the soil still brings forth 
arrowheads. Was it not really sounds such as these that, on the date 
of the Lisbon earthquake, made sleepers rock in their beds at the Rose 
Inn in Nazareth, and the Inn doors open ? The succeeding ajjpear- 
ance on the Rose Farm of refugees telling of a terrifying Indian mas- 
sacre should have proved this. It must be in the echo of such utter- 
ances as these that Sarah the Child-Widow arises and demonstrates. 
It must be these utterers who make for their own ears "the voice of a 
horseman on the upland, chiding his loitering steed in unknown 
tongue . . . tlie spirit of the bold Minsi from Peoqueahlin car- 
rying off the stolen daughter of Taghtapasset, the Delaware king of 
Weleganika" (Fatlands or Best-of-Tillable Land), the latter being the 
Delaware name for the Nazareth tract in 1740. 

We must not forget that it is well for us the Moravians did not 
dislike Indians and bore with them even when they became friendly 
and consequently more expensive acquaintances than when hostile 
aborigines. To the Moravians, Zeisberger and Heckewelder, our 
knowledge of their languages and manner of life is largely due. Zin- 
zendorf came across a half-breed whom he is amazed to find inoculated 
with both French and English, yet one historian tells us the Moravians 
were rewarded for their linguistic and preaching devotion by the 
epithet, "Locusts from the bottomless pit." A broad' band of paint in 
the medium of bear's fat adorned the above Indian scholar's conn- 



THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE 35 

teiiance. Brass wire hoops, a la basket-handle, depended from his in- 
telligent ears. 

We do not think of Indians without dogs, but they apparently 
bred none for the Barony. The streets of Nazareth are curiously bare 
of those enlivening creatures, it may be because of the Moravian tenet 
against animal joy. One misses them much at a fire, where they 
should leap and bark to the dismal clanging of the church bell. There 
are no fire-horses either. The eng-ine seems borne along by the clamor 
of voices, which surges up to the engine-house at the head of the town 
^nd carries the life-saver, with an ever-increasing, wild riot of cries 
and running feet, to the scene of danger. Everybody must go to an 
■evening fire : white gowns and flying ribbons, aprons and slippers, slow 
old man and racing young one, and all the little boys — an astonishing, 
^reat regiment — like seeds popping out in the blaze. 

A very pretty thing it is, the home-coming, safety's dismissal, 
peace after war. The footsteps are only simimer rain now. A shout 
from the fire-laddies is a blow on the quiet air. One can hear their 
panting breath coming up under the trees as they strain at the ropes 
of the engine. Its bell rings gently as if the babies were asleep again. 
Only the volunteers trail out in a wonderfully long line with their 
■empty water-buckets. They leave one witli a feeling of mystery as 
they pass, now in the shadow of the trees, now in the light of the lamps, 
their faces and arms blackened, their weary figiires stooped and steal- 
thy. But the crowd goes softly to bed as if Sunday morning were at 
hand, trusting themselves to Divine Providence and making no altera- 
tion in their primitive provision against fire. 

The Moravian is averse to seeking innovations, though rising well 
to opportunities when they come. Perhaps this is natural, fire and its 
olan not being the greatest of dangers to those who speak of death 
^s "returning to one's native land," who wear no emblems of mourn- 
ing, and whose children can speak of a group of women in mourning 
attire as the "black ladies." It is indeed a fact that an eccentric Mo- 
ravian minister in this neighborhood painted the window-frames of 
his house black in memory of his departed child, but the fashion of 
mourning weeds would be almost as strange a sight in the town as 
would be its frequenting by Romanist priests, the enemies of John 
Huss and his followers being markedly absent from the place. So also 
is the Irishman, Pat in ISTazareth being as noted a man as the Hebrew. 
The streets need the former's natural abandon, for they are very dry of 
singing and careless levity. 



26 THE BAROJSTY OF THE ROSE 

If it were not for the eruptions of Pennsylvania Dutch — with 
"ja" squealed up into "yigh" and s churned into sh — one might fancy 
H.errnhut's sabbatic period had descended to this American offspring. 
At that epoch no worldly music was heard in the streets of Herrnhut, 
only the echo of the faithful admonishing one another in psalms and 
hymns, Tobias Frederic having raised the congregation music to "a 
heavenly harmony as to its vocal parts, and the nearest possible imita- 
tion of the angelic choirs." Then, the Herrnhutites could honestly 
sing their hymn : "Our conversation is in heaven," and be beautifully 
called "the family of Jesus," deriving direction from the manner in 
which Jesus Himself had guided His family while here. The sacred 
fire of piety Avas never permitted to go out. For eleven years the 
Brethren and Sisters, in their respective places of retirement, divided 
the hours of the day and night by lot among them and kept iip a per- 
petual intercession. They concluded their Sunday services with the 
kiss of peace (the Brethren and Sisters among themselves). 

In this Renaissance of the Primitive Apostolic Church feet-wash- 
ing was also a solemn ceremony. They cast lots for matters of im- 
portance in public and private. They slept from eleven at night till 
four in the morning. They had three hours for meals, and sixteen for 
work and sacred services. On the first Saturday of each month, after 
a day of confession and other preparation, including the washing of 
the disciples' feet, they received the Holy Communion at ten at night 
in profound silence and continued without speaking till midnight. In 
this holy spot, called the Jerxisalem of the United Brethren, "watchers 
on the, walls," the Brethren from sixteen to sixty years of age took turn 
in announcing each hour by singing a verse of a hymn fitted to suggest 
edifying and encouraging thoughts to any who might be sleepless. 
Every member of the community was made a subject of prayer by the 
Perpetual Intercessors. So marked was their individuality by the 
military regularity of employment among them that the Count could 
call each by name. 

Any religious life of a forced nature was condemned. Also no 
business was considered mean or unworthy except such as cultivated 
indigence of spirit. So the Lords and Ladies of Herrnhut were those 
ennobled as Teachers, Helpers, Overseers, Monitors, Servitors, Sick- 
Waiters, Almoners, Managers of external concerns, such as houses, 
fields, gardens, streets, wells, trades, and so forth. Herrnhut was very 
explicit that no one but a physician of qualification should undertake 
the cure of any one of its family. The names and circumstances of pa- 





MONUMENT SHOWING THE PLACE WHERE THE 

FIRST TREE WAS FELLED AT HERRNHUT, 

WHEN HERRNHUT WAS FOUNDED. 



NEUWIED: CHURCH OF THE BRETHREN. 




HERRNHUT: NEW INN AND M.ARKET PLACE. 

n 




IN THE MUSEUM, NAZARETH: BOOK-LAMP, PETER BOHLEr's CAN- 
DLESTICK, COIN JAGGING-IRON, WAR-COLLAR. 



THE BAROFY OP THE EOSE 27 

tients were to be immediately mentioned to tte Sick-Waiters of both 
sexes whose directions were to be as carefully observed as were the pre- 
scriptions of the physicians. 

The cultivation of sick nursing among the Na^arene Moravians 
was not neglected. In war time a special order was granted that the 
Continental officers should refrain from disturbing this peace-loving 
people on account of their attention to the sick and wounded. Never- 
theless, a number of Lighthorse at Nazareth fed upon the hay and 
grain of the Society whose members suffered in silence lest they should 
be thought to dislike the American cause. Though opposed to bearing 
arms, they paid the government taxes for the war without complaint. 
Therefore they deserved the honor of the visit, at the Rose Inn, from 
Washington's nephew, a successor to those colonial governors and Phil- 
adelphians who, Fisher tells us, long made the Manor-of-the-Red- 
Rose a famous sporting-gi-ound, deer and grouse abounding on the 
barrens. 

Some one, however, must have gone against his principles, for the 
Society preserves in its Museum a collar worn by a Moravian soldier 
in the War of 1812 — a halter of leather of a height and thickness to 
have rendered Goliath's collar-bone invulnerable. The owner must 
have made at least a visual impression upon the Sisters of JSTazareth. 
We wonder if he had a sweetheart in the Congregation of Caps which 
used to dwell demurely but observantly in Nazareth as a similar one 
does to-day at Herrnhut. 

We wonder if she gave him the freedom of one of the curious 
old wooden thumb-latches which, in days gone by, used to let a lover in 
a Nazarene door, and of which we may still see a sample ? Did she 
play for him upon this dear, delicate old spinet ? Did he breathlessly 
watch her good hands busy with this strange carding machine ? Did 
he stoop his burly length and whisper to her that a ring was needed on 
one of the pretty fingers flying among these quaint flax-winders ? Did 
he smile deceitfully to himself as she worked to and fro — ^gracious 
arms and bending waist — at the big ribbon-loom ? Did he think how 
foolish of her to make the color for a Single Sister's cap which he was 
going to change ? Did she jag a pie for him with this iron extravag- 
antly formed from a coin ? And oh ! did she make him waffles on this 
old Dutch stove ? Could they possibly have crisped and melted in the 
mouth as do the waffles of the Barony to-day ? 

She may have been of the usual Nazarene pattern, dark-haired, 
dark-eyed, soft-fleshed, with cheeks colored only by modesty or maiden 



28 THE BAEONY OP THE EOSE 

love. Or she may have been the exception that proves the rule there, 
with a crown of crinkling red-gold hair above a face like a lady slip- 
per, dainty pink-and-white, with a tiny tipped spur for a nose. She 
may have had plenty to do, but there is at least one class of Moravian 
girl in ISTazareth to-day who is not behind her in industry. This one 
cheerfully sews on a thousand factory buttons for twenty-five cents and 
makes her dollar a day with all the muscles and attention of her young 
body. She goes home, in the train of sisters, brothers and often father, 
and spends the evening at the piano, accompanying the latter well-fat- 
tened, smiling parent on his violin. 

At seed-time and harvest she is turned into the precious garden 
spreading far behind her little home, and makes one of a family group 
of foreign aspect. The women work with as sturdy limbs as the men, 
and gather at intervals for a Kaffee-Schmatis (CofFee-Feast), scarlet 
and blue dresses and soft-colored old felt hats picturesque among the 
laughing men and white, clinking crockery. That the language of this 
Nazarene Maud MuUer is as engaging as her appearance cannot 
truthfully be said, especially if the matter in hand is foot-and-spade 
potato digging. Nazareth potatoes are good, and Nazareth Dutch is 
said to be not so bad as Pennsylvania Dutch in general. But woe to 
the unaccustomed ear that first finds them in unison ! 

In the unwritten annals of the place it is authoritatively asserted 
that a visiting Moravian Bishop was once very much melted at the 
serene aspect of the town. As he was driven among its innocent, green, 
tree-blessed purlieus, he commented on the beautiful family spirit of 
the community till the voice of controversy reached him from a bower 
by the roadside. He had come across two "Dutch" among the elect, 
one "yawing" the other for a candlestick brought over to be mended. 

"I sent it back," said the mender. 

"You lie!" screamed the candlestick-owner. "I see it on your 
table. Where are the potatoes you promised me ? You are a liar any- 
way!" 

A local wit immediately wrote an account of the visiting Bishop's 
disillusions which it took one hour to recite. But our Maud MuUer, 
having battered her opponent with her Dutch lightning, is likely to 
put herself into soft muslin and ribbons and stroll with the struck one 
down to the evening beauties of "Pretty Corner," otherwise Schoneck, 
named after one of Count Zinzendorf's European estates, or Gnaden- 
stadt (Town of Grace). Up hill and down valley she may go, past 
meadow brooks which seem to run away with the quacking ducks sail- 



THE BARONY OP THE ROSE 29. 

ing on their bosom, so lively are the water courses here, so well reveal- 
ing themselves, alas ! for the advance of mills and factories. Willows 
brood over the brooks and the mountain ash droojjs its Spanish colors 
above those grey-green willows. Leafy, sun-fretted lanes meander on 
all sides from the great trees of the road — pointed poplars, -odorous 
spruce, elm and maple. Blue lobelia, thick beside the footways, marks 
a wedding-line to Schoneck's stiff, little, old red church. 

Nothing disturbs these '"ways of pleasantness and paths of peace" 
but the owls which tell each other shuddering tales about the late In- 
dians, or the lightning which fights and battles among the Blue Hills 
of the Barony with a flashing, unpausing splendor that burns one's 
eyes and sets one's teeth on edge. Whether in former days the great- 
est number of ISTazarene lovers made up their minds at "Pretty Cor- 
ner," or at a "sing-meeting," or over the town pump, or among the 
opportunities of the old market-house in the square, we do not know. 
It has been written for us, however, that the Verlobung (betrothal) in 
jSTazareth lasted but a week. 

If a man wanted to marry, says the chronicler, he told it to the 
Bruder-Pleger (Caretaker of the Brethren), who told it to the minis- 
ter, who told it to the Schivester-Pleger (Caretaker of the Sisters). 
The community believing in a special providence and that all matches 
are made in heaven, the candidate for matrimony was brought before a 
box of ballots from which his trembling hand was allowed to draw the 
name of an unmarried female. If both parties were satisfied and 
agreed to come together, they were married in church within a week. 
If the man or woman refused to solemnize the objecting party was 
thrown off the church register for a term of years, at whose end the 
experiment might be tried again. 

In Herrnliut there could be no promise of marriage except in 
presence of the Elders and with their consent. jSTo young people were 
allowed to be affianced without being placed for a time with married 
persons, who instructed them how to "behave in the contemplated new 
relation." These perfunctory duties did not seem to quench the 
Herrnhutites' reverence for marriage as an inspiration and a sacra- 
ment. When Anna ISTitschmann, Zinzendorf's second wife, was in 
Nazareth, we are told, she visited a settlement of "seven-dayer nuns" 
and "enjoyed much love" among them till she disturbed them about 
their marital obligations. She was watched by a sister who was or- 
dered by the prioress to allow no private intercourse with her. The 
nunSj however, mutinied somewhat over their yoke, and this dutiful 



30 THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE 

daughter of Moravian housewifely piecepts returned to ISTazareth — 
"this true handmaiden," as her Hutberg epitaph describes her, adding, 
"Her service in the house of the Lord remains a blessing." 

The innkeeper's wife at the Rose Inn of Nazareth, who assisted her 
mother in making the first tent for the Superintendent, Bishop Spang- 
enberg, or "Brother Joseph," was only in her teens when performing 
that historic duty. The Bishop evidently found the young congenial, 
for we are told it was at Nazareth Hall he sought much-needed repose 
when his faithful co-laborer, Peter Bohler, the "vice ordinaire" sub- 
stituted for him in 1759. 

On the May day when Nazareth was dedicated, the occasion was 
celebrated by a love feast on the lawn in front of the Whitefield House, 
at which Peter Bohler gave his personal recollections of coming to 
Nazareth in 1740 and of his labors for Whitefield. In the Museum, 
with its row of tall windows overlooking that green lawn, one of the 
heirlooms is a candlestick belonging to Bohler. Its little umbrella 
shade of green silk is tattered but still an object of interesting associa- 
tion to Wesleyans and other students of denominational history. It 
keeps company with a book-lantern, a unique memento suggestive of 
midnight learning or even burglarious enterprises. The mechanism of 
the lamp is skillfully bound between the book covers. 

One is likely to be reminded, just at this spot, of that night in 
America when Whitefield, far from his earthly home but near his 
heavenly one, gave out by candle light his last summons to the Sun of 
righteousness. It has been eloquently described for us. Exhausted by 
his previous labors, he had refused to speak to the crowd which be- 
sought him in front of the house where he was staying. He hastened 
to bed, candle in hand. The multitude pressed into the hall. He "re- 
lented, paused on the stairway and gave his last exhortation. His 
voice, never, perhaps, surpassed in its music and pathos, flowed on 
until the candle which he held in his hand burned away and went 
out in its socket. The next morning he was not, for God had taken 
him." 

In its ancient days Nazareth Hall is said to have assembled its 
teachers and other citizens for music by the light of the taper, good 
chamber music and a string orchestra contributing to the beauty of the 
occasion. Haydn's "Farewell" was a favorite selection, closing the 
evening-'s entertainment after Prince Esterhazy's fashion. Each per- 
former, as he closed his part, suddenly extinguished his light. The 
music grew fainter, sinking at last into a pensive andante. The last 







J: i '^ 




THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE 31 

musician, a violinist, reached the finale amid an expectant hush, and, 
quenching his taper, removed light and sound with a fine dramatic 
eft'ect. It is to be remembered in this connection that the Corpse- 
House of the town stood near the school, adding its memories and 
associations to the ghostly character of the affair. 

The scholars of the Plall were doubtless safe in bed sleeping the 
righteous sleep of the busy boy. For as a North American Sister wrote 
to Zinzendorf, "Our seminaries also prosper, and they are as a beauti- 
ful garden of our dear Lord. My heart melts when I contemplate their 
growth in gi'ace." 

"The schools for young men and women at Bethlehem and Naz- 
areth under direction of the people called Moravians," says Payne's 
Universal Geography in 1798, "are upon the best establishment of any 
schools in America." 

In 1733, Zinzendorf had established schools for poor children in 
Marienborn (thirty-five miles from Frankfurt) in the castle ruins of 
Euneburg. The feeding and clothing was at his own expense. In 
1738 in Herrnhut, the children and young people among the ninety 
Bauds into which the population was divided had the liberal privi- 
leges of reading, writing, arithmetic, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, 
English, history, and geogTaphy. Zinzendorf himself found time to 
give lessons in writing, geography, and ecclesiastical history. The 
famous Economy of Girls at Herrnhut under the charge of Lady 
Joanna de Zezchwitz (the wife of the saintly Baron Frederick de 
Watteville), the English school at Mile End, the Institution for the 
children of missionaries, and numerous other educational endeavors 
for children of all denominations, make an estimable record which 
the Moravian modern schools worthily continue. 

The schools for boys and girls at ISTeuwied are well patronized by 
natives and foreig-ners. Zinzendorf visited the Count of ISTeuwied 
twice when the Moravian settlement there was still small and prin- 
cipally French. The Museum of Natural History in New York 
boasts a valuable collection of Mammalia donated by Maximilian 
Alexander Philipp, Prince of Neuwied. Neuwied is suggestively sit- 
uated on the Bhine, into whose waters were thrown the ashes of the 
martyr, John Huss. 

The Moravians of Neuwied reach out for intellectual progress, 
but shut up their hearts to auy innovation of domestic customs. "White 
godliness is the motto of the town. White in any tangible form is the 
passion of the place. Even the school dormitories present their deep 



32 THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 

old German beds in daytime entirely draped in snowy coverlets — 
head, foot and lathe-ed sides — looking like so many white crypts for 
the forgotten dreams of the night. In summer the boys inaugurate 
their holidays with the Week's Walk. They walk from town to town, 
stopping to see any place of interest and greatly enjoying their seven 
days' tramp. 

We do not find any record of a Week's Walk in Nazareth, but 
there is one of Week-Holders at the Hall, the boys who held that office 
being changed every Saturday night. These lucky office-bearers 
helped the Single Sisters to carry in the meals from the kitchen de- 
partment of their house to the Hall Eef ectory. Wheedling and bribes 
are said to have occurred in the transition, and a favorite Mint-Cake 
was often obtained at its manufacturing depot. Everything was sweet 
as possible with sugar, and white as possible with cleanliness. 

Whitefield would have been served here much to his taste, being 
a surprising stickler for the etiquette of the table notwithstanding his 
humble derivation. "Whether by himself," Stevens tells us, "or hav- 
ing but a second person at his table, it must be spread elegantly, though 
it presented but a loaf and a cheese." 

Apples grow on every hand for the painter of sun-dappled or- 
chards and the boy who lives to eat. They are chiefly grafted fruit, 
the first orchard being set out by an Englishman, Owen Eice. White- 
field's apple-boy would not have had to travel so far in this region to 
bring his benefactor an uncommon gift. That unsual country lad 
"carried a peck of apples seven miles on his back as a token of grati- 
tude for the benefit he had derived from Whitefield's ministry, and 
had such a sense of the Divine Presence that he walked, for the most 
part, with his hat off his head." 

Apple butter was once daily diet here, and Sieppe cider has its 
private patronage out of town and out of state. The wife of one Hall 
principal exemplified her Moravian interest in the children of her 
adoption by raising a famous brood of turkeys which gobbled in the 
day and trilled in the evening at the foot of the hill honored with the 
Pleasure-Garden. Zinzendorf, as aforesaid, had a public garden in 
the rear of his dwelling. The Moravians in London included gardens 
and a terrace in their conversion of the old family establishment of Sir 
Hans Sloane on the Thames at Chelsea into congregation house, chapel 
and burial-ground. 

The Moravians in Nazareth laid their Pleasure-Garden out or 
rather up toward heaven in shallow terraces whose edges they bordered 



THE BARONY OF THE EOSE 33 

with box and other plants and connected by wooden steps now green 
with moss. They imported much material for it, its arboretum 
spreading a name for it. The paths supported by the terraces meet 
gently beside running water, or at summer-houses, one of which was 
called "Sacred-to-Meditation." 

The foliage has become immensely rich without becoming dense, 
the trees preserving there the delicacy of their transplanted trunks. 
The Garden is thus perpetually showered with a thick fall of gold sun- 
drops. The ground is herbaceous and mossy, but never dank. The 
effect is most remarkable and hard to reproduce in words or picture. 
Birds seem to be always cooing there and lonely human creatures 
courting. The wind revels in this sloping garden on the hillside, and 
one is astonished on easily reaching the highest of its green galleries 
to look far down upon Nazareth Hall, the old Castle built for the 
Count. 

The gilt ball glittering on the latter's tower is said to contain a 
short historical account of the origin of the neighboring settlements. 
At the erection of this building English, Welsh, French, German, Bo- 
hemians, Danes, and a native of the New Guinea coast were employed. 
Governor Denny made a special visitation to inspect this prototype of 
the Common House or Great House at Herrnhut. One might lament 
that the fine blue limestone of its walls is hidden under a coat of plas- 
ter, if the precision of its proportions and the purity of its style were 
not accentuated by its present color. The stiffness of its convention is 
admirably relieved by its fan-lighted, paneled doors and the sweep 
of lawn which rises to the white road before the Castle steps. The ter- 
race on which the building stands is too sudden to be well pictured. 
Its picturesque conventionality can only be judged from numerous 
points under the gTeat trees around its lawn. Projected as a Castle for 
a Count, under its roof has been a pilgi-ims' rest, a hive of family affec- 
tion (seven married couples domesticating here at one time), the holy 
Chapel of the Congregation, a school for Moravian children and, as to- 
day, a boarding-school for boys of all denominations — the Nazareth 
Psedagogium, sometimes (because untruthfully) yclept the Nazareth 
Prison. 

On the open court of its lawn — which spreads down to the public 
road and is barracked on the sides by the late home of the Single Sis- 
ters, the church of 1840, the professors' houses and other buildings — 
there is a memorial obelisk. This monument rises from a block of 
granite six and a half feet square. Its pedestal is composed of slabs 



34 THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 

of Connecticut sandstone supporting a solid block of New Brunswick 
drabstone, in whose southern face is the national coat-of-arms. The 
pedestal is surmounted by a square die of Italian white marble on 
which are the inscriptions. Above this white tribute of praise and 
reverence is a shaft composed of blocks of Cleveland drabstone alter- 
nating with slabs of Connecticut brownstone. The inscriptions are : 

"1861—1865 

To commemorate the patriotism of the Sons of Nazareth Hall, 
who died that the country might be healed and live, this stone is erected 
by the Alumni of this institution in the year of g-race 1868. 



The Academy is the nursing-mother of patriotism, rearing her 
children in the ways of truth and freedom. 



Hence it is that the fathers of these men, themselves too, being 
nurtured in all freedom and well born, have shoAvn before all men 
deeds many and glorious, in public and pi-ivate, deeming it their duty 
to fight for freedom and their country, even against their countrymen." 



The earliest of these well-born heroes were wakened each day by 
the bell ringing from the Hall's galleried roof. The unknown author 
of "A Summer Jaunt in 1773" is displeased to find knitting in the 
school curriculum. He labels it "not fit work for boys," though he 
had been amiably disposed for all he should see, having been fortified 
on the way by "Mr. Friendly," who gave him a "very good breakfast," 
and accompanied by another "sensible, well-beheav'd man." He had 
also tasted of Christian Spring named for Christian Renatus, Zin- 
zendorf's son. Here was the weaving-shop of the community. 

Hannah Callender, the Quakeress, in 1758, eighth month, 
"crossed a field or two to the boys' house. This was built as a habita- 
tion for Count Zinzendorf — a large spacious stone house (Nazareth 
Hall). Ascending by a flight of steps into a large hall used for wor- 
ship the minister, our guide, played on the organ. Passed through the 
children's eating-rooms (which contain) long, narrow tables with 
benches covered with coarse cloth and wooden trenchers. . . . Up 
stairs are the School-room. One room children between three and four 
years old picking cotton, so orderly and still. For any noise they 
made you might have been in an empty room. The next two (rooms 
contained children) between five and six years old knitting. In the 



THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 35 

fourth (room) were children between seven and eight years old spin- 
ning. In the fifth and last (room children were) employed at their 
books. Pieces of their writing were fixed on wall to raise emulation. 
Fourteen children in each room. The children's meeting room is a 
large hall on the same floor. The third story is the bedroom contain- 
ing one hundred beds for one person each. Two brethren by turns 
keep nightly watch with lamps burning. The great order, decency, 
decorum and convenience, is hardly to be expressed. We left this 
pleasant place with due thanks to the minister." 

The value of the girls' school was also highly appreciated. We 
read of the sacrifice made by one James Burnside, of County Meath, 
Ireland, to place his motherless daughter here. He was an accountant 
and civil ofiicer in North Carolina. He became the first representa- 
tive of Northampton County in Assembly. His daughter, Rebecca, 
died in Nazareth in 1746. To pay for her education on this conse- 
crated ground he sold, among a great variety of family valuables : 1 
silver net apron, 4 gold and silver handkerchiefs, one enameled por- 
trait of King Charles II (what became of this?), 4 diamond sparks 
and again 1 diamond spark, 1 striped satin nightgown and the por- 
traits of Eebecca's maternal grandparents. 

Among the children who play in Nazareth streets to-day one hears 
the weighty name of Comenius — that venerable Moravian Bishop who 
brought forth the first picture-book for children. His suggestions on 
the subject of popular education antedated all others. His "intui- 
tive or perceptive system" for young pupils, his plan for the organiza- 
tion of schools in Sweden, his pedagogic fame in England, Hungary 
and other places are full of interest to the modern student of teaching 
methods. He did not suffer the trial of the burning of his writings as 
did that earlier apostle of the church, John Hubs. This noted educa- 
tional reformer reiterated continually for the Moravian Church the 
prayer, "Renew our days as of old !" Inspired with a spiritual fore- 
sight of its renewal, he republished its history, confession and discip- 
line ; and perpetuated its episcopate, pastors of the Reformed Church 
being consecrated bishops of the Unitas Eratrum that the succession 
secured from the Bishop of the Austrian Waldenses might not die out. 
The first hymn book known to the Protestant world was published 
by the Unitas Fratrum in Prague (1505) in the Bohemian language. 
They also claim the honor of giving the first printed edition of the 
Bible to the world universal — the oldest version in any modern lan- 
guage, the third before Luther. Human explanation of the Bible, they 



36 THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 

consider, should be avoided. A complete ritual of forms and ot- 
servance of the church festivals does not embarrass the use of extem- 
pore prayer. The ceremonial of confirmation for new converts does 
not prohibit the broad admission of members of other evangelical 
churches. Thus one goes into a Moravian church and sees a Lutheran 
admitted by a simple handshake from the minister, who steps down 
from his pulpit during the singing of a hymn which proclaims the 
newcomer as the Congregation's Child, now "our own." 

Though restricted by no regular denominational creed, the Mora- 
vians are firm in their confession of the one triune God (Father, Son, 
and Holy Ghost), and of the necessary plan of salvation for man 
formed from all eternity. They feel the risen Christ to be always in- 
visibly with them — A King at the right hand of God, yet stooping to 
guide His people where He has trodden. Strict discipline ismaintained 
— Puritanism without tyranny — as in the time of Zinzendorf when 
"The whole tree of the Congregaffon was examined, with its roots, 
branches, leaves, blossoms, and fruits; and everything that might 
either hurt or further its growth or fruitfulness." Every ten years a 
General Synod convenes composed of delegates from all the Watch- 
hills of the Brethren, the Church thus living as one organic whole 
throughout the world. 

Deo soli gloria (To God alone the glory), says the old church bell 
at Nazareth in its superscribed motto. Through cold or rain the 
trombonists announce the church-festivals, the love-feasts or covenant 
services from the arches of the belfry. 

"The trombones will blow (such and such a date)," one hears the 
Nazarenes say. 

The church clock rings its quarters, half -hours and hours with a 
truly melodious rhythm and a reg-ularity which starts the owls among 
the tree-tops which shield the belfry. The great hour bell solemnly 
supplements the tune of little bells when that rings for the fourth time. 
The time is struck here for a community which is taught to look on old 
age as an increase of pervading joy, the approach of life's anticipation. 

"I shall see the Apostles," said Schneider, as he stepped into Jor- 
dan. "The Prophets. ... all the Martyrs for Christ . . . 
the whole glorious company of Confessors ... I shall be to- 
gether with them at home, with the Lord for ever !" 

Yet the human is not quenched by divine longings. Zinzendorf 
exclaimed on losing a fellow-pilgrim that one-half of his heart had 
been taken from him, and again that the sun had burnt him when he 



THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 37 

alluded to a trial. This Warden of Herrnhut, in the early formation 
days of that hallowed settlement, used between the services to send out 
from his kitchen something for those who had come from a distance. 
This the waiting strangers ate together in brotherly love. Love-feasts 
soon became a churchly institution, a revival of the agape of primitive 
Christians. One Sunday in every month there was a general love- 
feast from seven to ten at night. The love-feasts among the several 
Choirs were numerous. 

In Nazareth six communion services occur in the church year. 
These are preceded by solemn covenant services and love-feasts. In 
the summer the children's love-feast and that for unmarried men and 
"great boys" are of special interest. The latter is in the afternoon of 
a Sunday which opens with a special service for the special class of 
covenanters. Tickets for the love-feast, presented chiefly by eligible 
Single Brethren to eligible Single Sisters, create as lively an exchange 
of compliments as valentines. The cups of thanksgiving, in company 
with much music, are filled with the justly celebrated Moravian coffee 
and distributed among the audience. Pretty matrons in white caps 
and aprons smilingly serve the worshippers with buns, their arms well 
stretched over the capacious baskets which they carry before them, 
and which add to the Moravian whiteness of the occasion by their 
fringed white cloths. The assembly eat and drink together in token 
of brotherly love and charity. In the evening the general congrega- 
tion is dismissed after service, the church bell rings solemnly, and 
the unmarried men and "great boys" receive the Lord's Supper alone, 
pledging the renewal of their covenant for the ensuing year. 

Whether brotherly love and charity are as intense among modern 
Moravians as among those of former times cannot be as publicly 
proved. In 1756 when this region was a shelter for refugees from the 
appalling massacre by Indians at Mahony, Zinzendorf wished to con- 
vert the murderers at once. As early as 1715, while yet a schoolboy, he 
had covenanted with Frederick, Baron de Watteville, at the Academy 
at Halle to establish missions among neglected heathen tribes. At old 
Euneburg Castle, where were the schools for poor children, there was 
also a famed missionary congregation of forty students from Jena who 
became laborers for the cause in Europe or in missions to the heathen. 

In 1741 Zinzendorf wrote to Doddridge that there had been 
sent out, from "our own family of Moravians," three hundred preach- 
ers into most parts of the world. He also speaks of himself as the 
guardian of Protestant churches in the south of France, sixty of which 



38 THE BARONY OF THE EOSE 

were assembling privately for worship. Under his patronage mission- 
aries passed out from Herrnhut to various parts of the world. He vis- 
ited in their behalf the West Indies, New York and Pennsylvania. 
We are told that the "witness-spirit" in Herrnhut greatly furthered 
the Count's missionary zeal. One soul "felt an uncommon desire to go 
to Greenland." This devoted one prays with another and the two 
"feel an extraordinary degree of cheerfulness and alacrity." At the 
departure from Herrnhut of the first two Heathen Messengers, as they 
were called, Leonhard Dober and David Nitsohmann, each member of 
the Congregation, to the number of over a hundred, sang for them a 
benedictory verse. These verses, being afterwards written do^vn, were 
given as tokens of remembrance to the voyagers into unknown dangers. 

"These words were a balsam to my heart," said one of these 
saints, alluding to a warning of death for his Saviour's sake. The 
Count gave to each a ducat (about half a guinea) for their journey, 
in addition to the sum which they had before. They set out on foot. 
They were willing to be slaves with the negroes of the West Indies. 
At Saint Thomas the negroes clapped hands at the message of salva- 
tion read by the two Brethren from the Dutch Bible given to them by 
Princess Charlotte Amelia on their way through Copenhagen. The 
Queen of Sweden had encouraged them. The two Court chaplains, 
Reuss and Blum, had assisted them as called of God. The King's 
bjitler, Mr. Martens, had helped them to a passage on a Dutch vessel to 
Saint Thomas. 

After great tribulation Dober became a tutor in the Governor's 
family, a position which depressed him, he having intended to be a 
slave. With great reluctance, the Governor consented finally to his 
dismissal, and he describes himself as happy as a bird set loose, living 
on bread and water but free for spiritual labor. The firstling of the 
negro nation to reward his efforts was a boy belonging to the Loango 
nation, who had been taken prisoner in a battle and sold as a slave, 
father and brother perishing before him. The Brethren bought the 
defenceless lad and he was designated for the service of the Count 
de Grersdorf in Germany. But he was uncommonly affectionate and 
obedient. Stopping at Herrnhut, he asked to be baptized and other- 
wise so ingratiated himself with the Brethren that he was kept there. 
Known first as Oby, the Brethren at Saint Thomas dignified him in a 
broad way as Carmel, and at Ebersdorf he was christened by the Court 
Chaplain as Joshua. Oby Carmel Joshua is said to have departed at 
Herrnhut "in a very happy manner." 



THE BARONY OF THE EOSE 39 

Saint Thomas, this first mission of the Brethren, sends its rest- 
ing missionaries now to Nazareth — a long leap from the old haven of 
Herrnhut. Ephratah (the Whitefield House) affords their beautiful 
opportunity of a refined leisure. The Nazareth church is often fa- 
vored in the testimony of their endurance and foreign experience. 
The Museum offers many and interesting object-lessons of the Mora- 
vian Mission to Alaska, for the bitterness of Arctic regions is as much 
coveted by Moravian martyrs as the dangerous warmth of the Indies. 

Christian David, the Bush Preacher — called in Herrnhut his- 
tory "that old servant of the Lord" — conducted the first Mission to 
Oreenland. A sheepboy, a carpenter, a soldier, a Papist crawling on 
his knees before images, a Lvitheran, Christian David found satisfac- 
tion at last among the Moravians. He labored for their faith through- 
out Germany and at many periods in England, Holland and Denmark, 
preaching before the latter's court. He was always a carpenter when 
not in the active service of the church. After countless outdoor ser- 
mons, conversions, persecutions, exercises on Saxony's village greens 
with shepherds, servants and praying children, this old war-horse 
blessed the founding of New Herrnhut as he had that of the old. 

A Greenland hut of stones and sods, the latter frequently freez- 
ing in the builders' hands, bills-of-fare comprising scanty oatmeal 
served mth train oil or seaweed and shell fish, warmth from a hole in 
the snow — ^these were the joys of inheritance, the desired marks of 
■crucifixion of Christian David and his fellow-soldiers. One hundred 
thousand members in Moravian foreign missions to-day are the fruit 
of devotion such as this. David Nitschmann, who began with Leon- 
ard Dober the first Mission of the Brethren, namely, that among the 
negroes in Saint Thomas, was consecrated in Berlin a Bishop of the 
Dispersed Congregations of the Moravian Brethren. He received his 
■ofiice under the episcopal blessing of the oldest Bishop and Senior of 
the Brethren's Unity in Poland, and at the same time First Chaplain 
at the Court of Frederick William First, King of Prussia. 

Bishop or, as he is sometimes called. Dean (Probst) Jablonski 
is numbered among the eminent members of Zinzendorf 's Order of the 
■Grain of Mustard Seed. No presentation of Moravianism in America 
■or elsewhere can be complete without a study of this alliance for sanc- 
tity. Nazareth boasts its antiquaries, but on so sacred a subject as this 
innermost of all the inner missions of this church an outsider cannot 
ask questions of curiosity. He can but surmise, with a thrill of secu- 
lar interest, how many to-day inherit with the faith of their fathers 



40 THE BARONY OF THE EOSE 

and wear in secrecy emblems, similar to the ancient ones, of this 
peculiar bond ; or how many have traced the tokens of their spiritual 
ancestry, and know who in the old graves of their kin at Herrnhut or 
jSTazareth were once ring-ed, cross-ed, and otherwise memoralized in 
this religious order. From the Herrnhut "Bruder-Bote" (Message to 
the Brethren) our translator before mentioned has given the following 
valuable information: 

"Zinzendorf's Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed. 

The preamble to the Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed says : 
An order is an association composed of respectable and honorable per- 
sons having a certain definite praiseworthy object in view. Thus there 
are high, intermediate, low, spiritual and worldly orders, each accord- 
ing to the spirit of its founders, or according to the purpose for which 
the order was instituted. 

Consequently there are orders of 'The Golden Fleece,' of 'The 
Holy Grave of Eegnitz,' 'The Order of the Swans,' and so forth; 
the one is organized by a sovereign duke, and kings and emperors have 
developed it to the highest degree of human efficiency. The other is 
founded by private knights and lords, sanctioned by lordships and fa- 
vored in various ways. The third variety is frequently composed of 
private individuals, as well as persons in civil position, and is cal- 
culated to give encouragement to virtue, righteous scholarship and 
various other things. 

The Order under consideration may be said to be of the inter- 
mediate kind, i. e., composed of members who to a large extent, if not 
exclusively, belong to the nobility. 

This Order, originating in seventeen hundred and extending into 
eighteen hundred, in many respects resembled the societies of the pres- 
ent ; it, however, bore the stamp of secrecy, which was a very popular 
feature in those days. Therefore the names of the members of the 
Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed, as well as the constitution and 
by-laws, were kept secret, and not imtil 1740 was Zinzendorf con- 
strained, by reason of some one's indiscretion, to make the latter pub- 
lic. 

Furthermore, there belonged to such an Order insignia, crosses, 
rings, costumes, etc., and peculiar rites, which now appear to us as 
awkward and antiquated, but then were proper and in place. 

Concerning the origin of the Order of the Grain of Mustard 
Seed, Zinzendorf communicates the following: Between the years 1713 




INSIGNIA OF THE ORDER OF THE GRAIN OF IIUSTARD SEED- 



THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 4i 

and 1714 there were five persons at the Pedagogium at Halle who 
were drawn toward each other in a very remarkable manner. They 
experienced emphatically what the Saviour said : "Where two or three 
are assembled in My name, there am I in the midst of them." 

Only three documents belonging to the order have been preserved 
in print. The one dated 1713 commences : 

'Most faithful Saviour, 
Most beloved Life/ etc., 

and ends with these words : "Oh, receive us into Thy wounded side, 
from which we will resist (attack) and conquer the last enemy." 
A Communion hymn (is preserved) beginning: 



concluding : 



'Arise, arise, it is accomplished, 
My eyes have seen the Lord,' etc., 

'In our life there will be seen 
Thy death and resurrection. 
Thy conflict and conquest, 
Thy seeking and finding.' 

Also the first statutes of a noble organization which was held in 
such high esteem between the years 1724 and 1741 that it numbered 
among its members not only persons of high standing of both sexes, 
ministers and generals, but also ecclesiastical prelates, yes, primates of 
the entire realm. 

Among the above young noblemen, although they belonged to dif- 
ferent religious communions, there was never a discordant note, 
neither did they lean more to tlie one side than to the other. By their 
parents they were directed to different spiritual advisers, which by 
reason of the time taken from their important communion, always 
caused a painful separation. They were obedient in this matter, but 
in reality understood few of the reasons why. And, although accord- 
ing to an arrangement at Halle they attended many theological classes. 
they nevertheless were more concerned to stimulate each other towards 
obedience to the indisputable truths than to speculate on unsettled 
realities (disputable truths). Scarcely one among their number' will 
be able to recall any other conversation, treatise, prayer or hymn than 
the great theme of the sufferings, death and resurrection of Jesus 



43 THE BAEONY OF THE KOSE 

Christ. This especially was the all-absorbing theme of our most active 
brother, .......... 

All this because from childhood his motto was: 

'This one thing I will do, 

His death and sufferings ever 

Till soul and body sever, 

Shall steadfast in my heart remain.' 

Considerable freedom was granted to the society. . . . jSTeither 
in their religion nor in their ceremonies did the members err. They 
were unacquainted with separation. They had an inward desire for 
the furtherance of the salvation of many people. Respecting this 
Spangenberg says: They formulated certain principles which con- 
formed to the teachings of Jesus and were suitable for promoting their 
object and established certain rules to which, after full and careful 
consideration, they pledged themselves before the Lord. According 
to the good advice of Zinzendorf's grandmother, the Lady-Governor 
Gersdorf, the order was kept secret for a long time. At first they 
adopted the name 'Slaves of Virtue,' then 'The Association of Con- 
fessors of Jesus Christ,' and finally the 'Order of the Grain of Mus- 
tard Seed,' based on Matthew 13:31. The first emblem in use in 
1715 was an Ecce Homo with the circumscription, Nostra Medela. 
When the members scattered to different countries a union was main- 
tained through vigorous correspondence. Count Zinzendorf took a 
conspicuous part in this correspondence, but did not consider himself 
in any wise as the head, but simply a servant of the Order. 

At the time of joining, the members of the Order drafted an 
agreement containing the promise to remain faithful to the teachings 
of Jesus and walk worthily according to the same. 

Li the agreement of a certain reigning lord, dated Amsterdam, 
June, 1719, the statement is made that at the time of uniting with the 
society he promised that he would rather sacrifice his life than de- 
part from the faith or wilfully give offence ; execute love toward his 
neighbor without dissimulation ; renounce dancing, gambling, etc. 

Since each member of the Order was to receive a copy of the 
Eules and By-laws, these were published in London as manuscript 
(strictly for private circulation) ; but at the death of a member the 
rules, together with all the insignia, were to be returned to the secre- 
tary of the Order. In one instance this was not done, and Professor 



THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE 43 

Voget of Utrecht published them with unkind comments, and declared 
the Order an institution of the Moravian Church, while in reality it 
was a private affair of Count Zinzendorf and his friends. At a Synod 
of the Moravian Church (1740) a protest was entered and an au- 
thentic copy of the rules and regulations made public." 

We give our translator's sufficient abstract of the "Eules of the 
Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed" from the same "Message to the 
Brethren" quoted above: 

"In the name of our own most precious and dearest Lord. 

I. 

Guarantees perfect freedom to each member to retain membership in 
the denomination in which he was born ; states the doctrinal position 
of the Order: 'We are all agreed on one point, namely, that Jesus 
Immanuel, God from God, born a man of the Virgin Mary, is the only 
source of our salvation, and that it is true to all eternity that there 
is no hope for the improvement of our miserable condition except in 
His high and holy name . . . that the merit of the wounds of 
Jesus stirs and moves the hearts of men, offers those touched to God, 
heals them, rules and makes them whole^ etc. . . . Therefore 
also shall our endeavour and unwearied labours go through the entire 
world, that we may win hearts for Him who gave His life for us.' 

II. 

Commends love to all mankind. Forbids proselyting on the part of 
any member. 

III. 

Recommends missionary comity. This article was no doubt inserted 
at a later period, since there was no missionary activity in the dif- 
ferent communions in 1713-24. Probably inserted after efforts of the 
first Moravian missionaries in 1732 had aroused other denominations 
to their duty towards the heathen world. Won-interference with con- 
verts of other teachers. 

IV. 

Urges members to obtain a full and happy sense of their being chil- 
dren of God. 



44 THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 



Advises all to attend to their own business, and if compelled to act 
contrary to the customs of those about them, to use all possible mod- 
eration. 

VI. 

Asserts equality of members and forbids wearing the insignia for 
display, commanding that the Order shall be discontinued as soon as it 
grows worldly. 

VII. 

States objects which bound members together : love for the whole 
human race; winning of souls for their Creator; honorable dealing 
with all men; seizing every opportunity to further the work of the 
Lord ; aiding every effort put forth to do God's work ; discountenanc- 
ing innovations in doctrine and practice and strengthening and re- 
viving the old that has proved itself to be good; aiding each other 
mutually, and finally through the Grace of God being permitted to 
fall asleep in joy and peace. 

VIII.— XII. 
Treat of the Insignia of the Order. 

XIII. 

Explains absence of dues on the ground that the members realize that 
not only a part but their entire fortunes belong to God. 

XIV. 

Details as to transfer of insignia, etc. 

XV. 

Appoints two days to be observed by the Order : March 25, fasting and 
thanksgiving; August 16, fasting and prayer and careful study of the 
Eules of the Order." 



From the authorized Herrnhut publication our translator gives us: 

"The Insignia of the Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed. 
"The Order of the Grain of Mustard, organized by Count Zinzen- 



THE BARONY OF THE EOSE 45 

dorf in 1713 or 1714, among a small circle of friends, five in number, 
while at the Pedagogium at Halle, received its first constitution in 
1724, and extended its further usefulness to the ranks of the nobility, 
numbering among its membership such eminent persons as: King 
Christian VI. of Denmark ; the Archbishop of Canterbury, John Pot- 
ter; the Bishop of Sodor and Man, Thomas Wilson; Cardinal No- 
ailles; the Governor of Georgia, General Oglethorpe (from other 
records may be added Court Preacher Jablonski; Henry XXIX. 
Eeuss ; Frederick de Watteville ; General de Scbryver and Isaac Le- 
long of Holland ; Von Eademacher, Director of the East India Com- 
pany; Mr. Erskine, State Secretary of Scotland), and others. 

"Bishop Spangenberg has this to say respecting the tendency of 
the Order : 'The founders of this Order adopted certain fundamental 
principles which were in harmony with the teachings of Jesus and 
were calculated to further this end, and established certain rules to 
which, after mature reflection, they pledged themselves before the 
Lord.' In the beginning the organization adopted the name 'Slaves of 
Virtue,' then 'The Organization of Confessors of Jesus Christ,' and 
finally 'The Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed,' based on St. Mat- 
thew 13 :31. 

"The first insig-ne or emblem used in 1715 was an Ecce Homo 
bearing the inscription 'JS^ostra Medela' (Our Salvation). As soon as 
the members of the Order scattered to different parts of the world 
they retained a union through vigorous correspondence. The Order 
of the Grain of Mustard was no specific institution of the Moravian 
Church, but rather a private affair of Count Zinzendorf. 

"The first symbol of the Order is a gold cross, enameled in green 
at the four ends. In the middle of which is an oval enameled in blue, 
on which a mustard-tree in its natural color is depicted bearing the 
circumscription: Quod fuit ante nihil (That which was nothing). 
Between the arms of the cross are found open mustard-seed pods in 
green (color), in each of which there are three grains of mustard 
(seed). From the oval golden flame-like rays flash forth. This sym- 
bol of the Order was directed to be worn suspended either from a gold 
chain, the links of which were alternately made of open and closed 
grains of mustard seed, or from a silk ribbon, sea-green (ultramarine) 
for the nobility (or laity) and white with green edges for the clergy. 

"It is probable that this particular symbol was not much in evi- 
dence and hence seldom used. At any rate, only one sample has been 
preserved, as far as is known, and is now in the Archives of the Unity 



46 THE BARONY OP THE ROSE 

at Herrnhut. The Constitution simply contains a description of the 
Order, but does not direct that a member at the time of entrance will 
be provided or shall provide for himself this symbol, while on the 
other hand Article X. says : 'The members receive a gold ring bearing 
the Greek inscription, None of us lives for himself/ 

"The rings of the Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed, of which 
only five samples are preserved in the Unity's Archives, were of dif- 
ferent diameters according to the size of the finger of the wearer, 
either male or female (for ladies were also admitted to the Order, for 
example, Zinzendorf's aunt, Henrietta von Gersdorf). They were 
about two and a half millimeters high and very heavy. 

"In four white enameled squares on green fields were found the 
Greek letters symbolizing the above inscription. The fields are sep- 
arated by perpendicular bands. 

"The third insig-ne of the Order is a silver cross with a single 
mustard seed in the centre and the characters C.O.I.I., signifying 
Crescit in Christo in immensum (In Christ it increases immeasur- 
ably). Between the arms of the cross appear open mustard-seed pods 
emitting rays. This cross was to be worn on the right side on a purple 
garment (cloth), as is the custom in wearing decorative stars. 

"Whether this was ever done is not known, neither has such a cross 
been preserved. A picture in the Unity's Archives represents Count 
von Zinzendorf in such purple attire (robe), but the cross is wanting." 



In those same Archives of the Unity is an engraving of a half- 
length figure wearing a high ecclesiastical cap. The features have a 
very happy expression, the eyes being large, dark and smiling. Across 
the breast of the figure is a broad band of ribbon holding a cross. An 
enlarged copy of this cross — ^the Cross of the Confession — is among 
the treasures of the Archives. It is of gilded silver. Upon the upper 
limb is the form of the Saviour, the head surrounded by a broad halo 
of conventional radiation, the arms extended in full manifestation. 
Upon the transverse beam are kneeling disciples. Below, upon the 
under limb, is the so-called Passion Cross, unadorned and surmounted 
by the superscription: I IST E I. The Passion Cross rises from a 
seven-branched candelabrum, which completes the symbols on the 
Cross of the Confession. 

This emblematic cross is the chief insigne of the Order of the 
Confession of the Sufferings of Jesus, whose members Avere of a more 




ECCE HOMO, BY DOMENICO FETI. 



THE BARONY OF THE ROSE 47 

experienced and exclusive spiritual caste than those of the Order of 
the Mustard Seed. The radiant figure in the Picture-Gallery of the 
Archives is that of Bishop John ISTitschmann, the most noted ex- 
ponent of the Order of the Confession of the Sufferings of Jesus. 

We read in the Statutes of this Order : "The blood and wounds of 
Jesus stand for our pitiful load of sins. To this we would give per- 
petual witness and consecration." 

Again we read of the "benediction in His wounds." 

The number of wounds of the "suffering Lamb" is reiterated: 
"the five wounds." 

The Herrnhut Archives furnish a fine, mellow print of Domenico 
Feti's Ecce Homo in the Dusseldorf Gallery — thorned and roped, 
sorrowing under the afiiictions of the Passion, yet ineffably gentle and 
benignant. The print bears the subscription: 

"Ecce Homo , 

Von Domenico Feti geb. 1589 zu Eome; gest 1624 zu Venedig. 
Zinzendorf schreibt in seinem Eeisetagebuch (Attici Wallfahrt) unter 
dem 22. Mai 1719 : Unter vielen hunderten der herrlichsten Portraits 
auf der Gallerie (zu Diisseldorf ) zog das einzige 'Ecce Homo' mein 
Aug und Gemuth auf sich. Es war der Affect ganz unvergleichlich 
exprimirt mit der Unterschrift : Ego pro te haec passus sum ; Tu vero, 
quid fecisti pro me? Mir schoss das Blatt (d. h. mir wurde klar), 
dass ich hier auch nicht viel wurde antworten konnen, und bat meinen 
Heiland, mich in die Gemeinschaft seines Leidens mit Gewalt zu reis- 
sen, wenn Sinn nicht hinein wolle." 

Translated, the above runs : "Ecce Homo by Domenico Feti, born 
1589 at Eome; died 1624 at Venice. Zinzendorf writes in his jour- 
nal (Attici Pilgrimage) 22. May, 1719. Among many hundred 
beautiful portraits in the Gallery (at Diisseldorf) the unique 'Ecce 
Homo' attracted my attention and appealed to my heart. The emo- 
tion was incomparably expressed by the subscription : I have suffered 
for thee; what hast thou truly done for Me? I realized that I also 
would not be able to answer much, and I begged my Saviour to force 
me into commimion with His suffering, if otherwise I would not 
enter." 

We read further, in the Statutes of this Order, that the hidden 
bond was strengthened in the September of the year in which Peter 
Bohler of Nazareth memory made a happy departure, by a love-feast 



48 THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 

at which one hundred "dear Brethren" were present — ^the true Mora- 
vian, Zinzendorfian absolution by joy from sin and grief. 

Beneath the picture of Bishop Nitschmann is the official seal 
which — appropriate for the Order of the Mustard Seed, as well as for 
the Order of the Confession — bears "in all their splendor," the words : 
Wir Halten Uber Der Bekentnis vom Leiden Jesu (We witness the 
Confession of the Suffering of Jesus). 

Bishop Nitschmann was that high ecclesiastic who, with episcopal 
attendants, walked before the corpse of Zinzendorf, the general of the 
white singing host at that Saint's funeral. 

It is a crying want that no picture of Zinzendorf, wearing the 
insignia of either of the distinctive Moravian Orders, is extant. 
Among the oil paintings of the Unity's Archives at Hermhut, how- 
ever, we find one of him exemplifying his liking for such symbolism. 
In this portrait he is adorned with the Order of Danebrog, an ancient 
Danish order instituted by King Valdeniar II. in 1219. In old Dan- 
ish, Danebrog signifies the "cloth" or banner of the Danes, and we 
may consider this Order as an immortalization of the old national flag 
of Denmark (a white cross on a blood-red field), which, like the ori- 
flamme of France, was the standard which headed the army. Being 
first used by Valdemar II. in his crusade against the Pagans, it was 
fitting that this honor should be conferred upon the great Moravian 
crusader. It will be remembered that Christian VI. of Denmark wore 
the appointments of Zinzendorf's Order of the Grain of Mustard 
•Seed. 

In the painting of Count Zinzendorf to which we have referred 
he wears, across his right shoulder and breast, the Order's broad white 
ribbon embroidered in red. From the ribbon is suspended, beside his 
left hand, on a little crimped-edged cushion, a cross of gold pattee, 
enameled with white. On. his right breast, below the slanting sash, 
s the further decoration — an eight-pointed, luminous star bearing 
a coroneted, ciphered cross. The face of the portrait is more 
rugged and heavy than we are wont to see in the Count's portraits, but 
retains the usual sweetness and complacency of expression. The hands 
are also represented in all their aristocratic refinement, the delicate 
ruffles — flowing over one and turned back from the other — adding to 
their beauty. 

In the same Portrait Gallery of the Archives of the Unity at 
Hermhut, Moravian daintiness is further exemplified in the picture 
of the child, Marie Justine de Watteville. "Sehr nett" (very pretty) 



THE BAKONY OP THE EOSE 49 

is its keeper's introdtiction, and visitors to the Archives echo the senti- 
ment. IVIarie Justine's soft little form is as elongated and stiffly 
bodiced as that of the Unknown Sister or the most worldly of court 
ladies. There is surprise in her face as if at such an inappropriate 
proceeding. There is also a great deal of pleasure evinced in her smil- 
ing mouth and the shining brightness of her large eyes, for she has 
much to make her feel, as well as look, pretty. Her little Herrnhuter 
cap is as delicate and elaborate as sanctified Mammon could permit. 
Its ribbon bow is delightfully opened and spread as any worldly 
mama would want it, and tied to one side so that her pretty throat pre- 
sents a most kissable appearance in the midst of its double falling 
ruffles. White rniSes, very full and elegant, also adorn her arms. 
White puffs head the white ruffles, and the sleeves of her severe little 
goAvn are allowed to flounce, gay and free, above the white ruffles. 

Marie Justine, Baroness de Watteville, was the daughter of 
John de Watteville and Benigna von Zinzendorf (a niece of the 
Count). She was later the wife of Henry 55 Reuss, who died in 
Bath, England, 1828. Her father. Baron John de Watteville, was the 
adopted son of Baron Frederick de Watteville, first Senioris Civilis of 
the Eenewed Brethren's Church, and a distinguished member of the 
Order of the Grain of Mustard Seed. We stoop, under the lindens of 
the Hutberg, to read of him as "the servant of Jesus Christ," and also 
that "he assisted in founding the Congregation, saw it blossom and 
expand. He rejoiced and fell asleep filled with praise and thanks." 

He was the intimate friend of Zinzendorf. While mere lads, 
students at the Eoyal Academy at Halle, their peculiar affinity had 
caused them to covenant together in a solemn dedication of their lives 
to God, having especially in view the salvation of the heathen. Fred- 
erick de Watteville, going out into the world to see much of its pleas- 
ures and be disturbed by his own philosophical researches, passed 
through a severe spiritual conflict. From this he emerged triumphant- 
ly by bathing his soul in the mystic rapture of his friend, Zinzen- 
dorf. Taking from the Count's lips the comfort of the words, "God 
is love," he felt himself so powerfully overcome, Kolbing tells us, that 
he cast himself dowa and dwelt "with riveted attention, for several 
hours successively, on this one precious name He bears in Holy Writ." 
At the laying of the foundation-stone of the Academy at Herrn- 
hut, "Mr. de Watteville," says Kolbing, "with a view symbolically to 
express his having buried all worldly views and prospects, had placed 
under the foundation stone all the jewels and costly things which were 



so THE BAEONY OF THE EOSB 

yet in his possession, and among these a ring which had passed seven 
times through the fire, and which had been intended as an emblem of 
his prosperity." 

Owning the genealogical glory of such a gi'andfather as this, our 
little Marie Justine stands close to the thi'one through his nephew, 
Frederick Eudolph de Watteville of the House of Montmirail, Swit- 
zerland, a "blessed servant of Jesus and His Congregation," "Senioris 
Civilis," "Member of the Elders' Conference of the Brethren's 
Unity," "Master of the Village in Herrnhut, JSTiesky and Gnaden- 
feld," and — ^making Marie Justine's royal link — husband of the 
Baroness Elizabeth, born the Countess von Zinzendorf, "youngest 
daughter," says her Hutberg epitaph, "of the blessed Count ISTicholas 
Ludwig." Born at Marienborn in the Wetteravia, the Baroness Eliza- 
beth "entered into the joy of her Lord in the Congregation at Herrn- 
hut, whose beloved (mistress or) magistrate she was." 

Equally reverent and more emphasized is the memorial in the 
Hutberg of Marie Justine's mother, a cousin of the above Baroness 
Elizabeth: Henrietta Benigna Justine de Watteville, born Countess 
von Zinzendorf and Pottendorf . Her white stone glistens in the sun- 
dappled God's Acre, with the shining testimony that she was "a blessed 
servant of the Brethren's Church, both in the Old and the New World. 
In various perils on land and sea, she ended her pilgrimage in the 
Congregation at Herrnhut, where for 33 years she was the loved and 
esteemed mistress of the community." 

Did little Marie Justine accompany her mother to the New 
World ? Did she — "3ehr nett" — with her wideawake eyes and dainty 
attire, laugh among the trees of Nazareth and pick the red roses of the 
Barony ? Was it her mother who furnished the name for Benigna's 
Creek, or is that a namesake of the Count's daughter ? We are in- 
formed by Bovet that the descendants of the latter's daughter (the 
Count's granddaughter, Mrs. Alexander) are all in America. Per- 
haps they will tell us some day things many and precious. 

Marie Justine would have found ISTazareth as much a children's 
kingdom as Herrnhut, where nothing surpassed in importance the 
Orphan-House and the Academy. We have already spoken of Zinzen- 
dorf's solicitation for the education of Moravian children and his own 
personal assistance in that branch of the Herrnhut economy. One of 
the first gifts to the Moravian exiles who founded Herrnhut was a 
cow for their little ones, sent by the Countess Dowager, Lady Hen- 
rietta de Gersdorf. A pair of twins, twelve weeks old, were among 



THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 51 

the tiny crusaders who had been carried across the Silesian houndary 
in the dead of a Wliitsun night, to seek for a refuge of holy living. 
Is it any wonder the faith of a mother in the company failed for a 
moment and she cried out : "Where shall I find bread in this wilder- 
ness ?" She was to see many little children growing up to enjoy peace 
and plenty and to testify of an early spiritual benediction. 

Zinzendorf loved to witness that he had the happiness of knowing 
the Saviour from earliest years. The second Saturday of each month 
was occupied as a solemn prayer-day for the children. The first 
Elders were elected by a lot drawn by a child. The question of union 
with the Lutherans was decided by Zinzendorf's little son, Christian 
Renatus, or Eene, putting his hand in an urn and drawing out one 
of two papers. The words "Stand fast" appeared imder the touch of 
his small fingers, determining for the Church of the Brethren its sep- 
arate organization. Sixty hymns in the German Moravian hymn- 
book testify to the religious industry of this son of the faith. 

Little children were entrusted with the bier of a deceased child 
and led such a funeral procession with songs of heaven. The Herm- 
hut children were taught to retire for prayer in little companies to 
quiet spots on the sides of the Hutberg. Zinzendorf was often on 
guard near by to see they were not disturbed, and returned with them 
down the slopes of the hill, his melodious voice adding richness to their 
hynms of praise. 

In Kolbing's "Memorial Days of the Eenewed Church of the 
Brethren," we read that a spiritual outpouring among the children 
of Herrnhut is one of the features to be commemorated on the thir- 
teenth of jSTovember, that being a date of great significance to the 
Moravians. The oSice of General Elder was that day abolished and, 
in the name of Christ, to all under the discipline of the Congregation 
— the forsakers, the erring, the enticed — a door of admission was 
opened by the consciousness of the pardon of "our most gracious King, 
Lord, Head, and only Elder ! . . . We, His children, add nnr 
most hearty Amen. Amen, Lord Jesus, Am en !" 

Even sinners of ten years' standing made their repentant confes- 
sion. The day passed in weeping, singing, the covenanting of love- 
feasts, and the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds, which was 
interpreted as a mark of the divine favor. "The children," we read 
in Kolbing's excerpt from "The Diary of Herrnhut," "met at six 
o'clock, and were told what ofiice (that of Elder) the Lord had under- 
taken to perform in the Congi'egation, and how He had offered His 



53 THE BAEONY OF THE EOSE 

gracious pardon to all those who had offended. They were reminded 
that they likewise were interested in all this, and that to them also 
free and full forgiveness should be granted in the name of Jesus for all 
they might have done amiss if they would but uprightly confess their 
faults, for doing which an opportunity should be afforded them. The 
children then knelt down to adore their Saviour during a general emo- 
tion of their hearts, the effects of which became sufficiently apparent in 
their subsequent conduct." 

In 1758, during Passion-Week, the Herrnhut children are said 
to have experienced such a feeling of the Saviour's sufferings that the 
Passion Hymns were often interrupted by their tears. Many who 
had conducted themselves amiss wept for their Saviour and felt in 
their hearts they could not do without Him. The awakening spread 
among the children in all the seminaries of the Brethren. 

So we come down to an anniversary day in jSTazareth, the seven- 
teenth of Aiigust, when the children of true Moravians spend all the 
hours — amid songs, love-feasting and flowers — in learning of their 
inherited faith and of the little Saints who made "truly days of heav- 
enly enjoyment to the Congregation at Herrnhut." 

In 1727, we read in Kolbing, "no sooner had the fire of the love 
of JesTis been fully kindled in the Congregation there (Herrnhut) 
than the hearts of the children caught the flame." In consequence of 
"separatistical errors" "sad confusion" had been prevailing at Herrn- 
hut, but Count Zinzendorf's labors had been unwearied. On the thir- 
teenth of AugTist his work was blessed and sealed by a "distinguished" 
outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the adult part of the Congrega- 
tion at the celebration of the Lord's Supper in the Church at Berthels- 
dorf. He had been specially concerned, during the time of doctrinal 
disorder in the Congregation, for the children. He went every other 
day to Berthelsdorf to visit the Girls' Boarding School at the Watte- 
ville House. The names of nine girls between the ages of nine and 
thirteen years have been preserved for the yearly education of our- 
little Nazarene Pilgrims : Johanna Sophia de Seidewitz, Charlotte de 
Seidewitz, Augusta de Zezschwitz, Magdalen Arndt, Mary Elizabeth 
Hentschel, Anna Mary Jahne, Anna Mary Keil, Anna Dorothy 
Schaffer (daughter of the Reverend Mr. Schaffer at Gorlitz), and 
Anna Rosina Schmid. The elder of the two Ladies de Seidewitz are 
particularly mentioned as affected by the Coimt's exhortations on his 
birthday, after he had for a long time, as he confided to his Countess 



THE BAEONY OP THE ROSE 53 

and to his Saviour, felt great distress at the spiritual dullness he found 
among them connected with marked "outward prosperity." 

So one day, we are told, "a universal flame of love towards our 
Saviour seemed to be kindled in the hearts of these children, and all 
of them spent the whole night in prayer." But it was Susanna 
Kiihnel — a name impressed upon the children of Nazareth — who was 
the first answer to the Count's wrestling for the salvation of the Breth- 
ren's babes and sucklings. We have already alluded to her, in connec- 
tion with her mother's happy death. Kolbing speaks of her as "this 
infant preacher of righteousness." "This girl," he says, "eleven years 
of age, who lived with her parents at Herrnhut, after having spent 
three days wrestling with God in prayer, experienced, on August the 
sixth, such a divine feeling of the grace of our Saviour, and obtained 
so clear an assurance of her salvation that, neglecting even the neces- 
sary bodily refreshment, she spent the greatest part of that day in pro- 
claiming the praises of her Redeemer. This extraordinary state of 
her mind was occasioned by the happy departure of her mother 
into the presence of that Saviour whom she had here rejoiced 
in as the Sun of Righteousness. The joyful departure of her mother 
made so deep an impression upon this girl that she spent three whole 
days, and especially the forepart of the last night, till one o'clock in 
the morning, in Aveeping and prayer, at which hour she broke out into 
indescribable joy, called to her father, who slept in the adjoining 
room, and who had, unknown to her, heard all that had passed, and 
cried out, 'Now, father, I am become a child of God, and I know also 
how my mother felt and still feels.' She, however, did not only relate 
to her father what great mercy the Lord had shown her, but out of the 
abundance of her heart her mouth spake to her companions of his lov- 
ing kindness towards her, and this she did with such energy that they 
were deeply affected thereby, and felt themselves powerfully drawn to 
Jesus. The following six are particularly mentioned among that num- 
ber : Anna Nitschmann, Jitlianna Quitt, Rosina Fischer, Anna Gold, 
Sophia Giitbier and Anna Beyer, all of whom were, in the sequel, em- 
ployed as handmaids of the Lord in the Brethren's Congregation. 

"Many more remarkable traces of a work of gTace among the 
children at Herrnhut and Berthelsdorf became apparent, and the fol- 
lowing is noticed in the 'Diary of Herrnhut' concerning this subject : 
August the 23rd. — The children of both sexes felt a most powerful 
impulse to prayer, and it was impossible to listen to their infant sup- 
plications without being deeply moved and affected; a most extra- 



64 THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE 

ordinary emotion of all hearts prevailed at their meeting that day, 
produced especially by the manner in which Susanna Kiihnel ad- 
dressed them, whose zeal and earnestness daily increased in strength 
and ardour. A similarly blessed meeting of the children took place 
in the evening of the 26th of August, and on the 29th, from the hour 
of ten o'clock at night until one the following morning, a truly affect- 
ing scene was witnessed, for the girls from Herrnhut and Berthels- 
dcrf spent these hours in praying, singing, and weeping on the Hut- 
berg. The boys were at the same time engaged in earnest prayer in 
another place. The spirit of prayer and supplication at that time 
poured out upon the children was so powerful and efficacious that it is 
impossible to give an adequate description of it in words. . . . 
All forgot themselves, and things terrestrial and transitory, and longed 
to be above with Christ, their Saviour, in bliss everlasting." 

There were ten orphan boys living together at Herrnhut at this 
time. One of their number, known as Brother Jacob Liebich, gives 
the following account of their share in this visitation of religion : "Our 
Schoolmaster, Mr. Klemm, was a very upright and zealous man, who 
felt himself deeply interested in the welfare of his scholars. It was 
his practice, at the close of our daily lessons, to kneel down with us 
and to intercede in our behalf ; nor did he fail to recommend us to the 
Lord and His good Spirit in his private hours of supplication. At 
the time when Susanna Kiihnel began to be under the special and pow- 
erful operations of the Holy Ghost, and used to kneel down under the 
trees in her father's garden, particularly in the evening and at night, 
eiitreating the Lord, with cries and tears, to have mercy on her, and to 
save her soul from death, we boys, who were near neighbours of Fred- 
eric Kiihnel, heard, when going to bed, her earnest entreaties. This 
touched our hearts, so that we could no more go to bed in the same 
indifferent frame of mind, in reference to spiritual things, as before ; 
and we requested our Overseers to take us a walk on the following 
evenings. Thus, till the end of August, instead of going to bed at the 
usTial hour, we went into the fields and woods, where we prostrated 
before the Lord, and implored Him to be merciful to us and to save us. 
Our Schoolmaster was often present on these occasions, and when he 
had concluded his prayer, and we were on the point of returning 
home, most of us again sought a retired place, and either singly or two 
together, kneeled down and prayed to the Lord. Many are the par- 
ticular spots in the vicinity of Herrnhut which we in prayer bedewed 
with cur tears." 



THE BAEOKY OF THE ROSE 55 

On the seventeenth of August in Nazareth, the anniversary of the 
Oreat Awakening among the Children at Herrnhut in 1727 is called 
the Festival of the Children. Their Annual Love-feast is celebrated in 
the afternoon when the program of hymns is sung alternately by 
Congregation, Children, Parents and Friends, and Choir. The 
Parents call upon their Saviour to remember that "if these lambs 
should stray from Thy secure enclosure's bound," "The sign of coven- 
ant grace they wear." 

Again the Parents sing : 

"Kind Shepherd, take each little lamb 
Into Thy faithful arms of love." 

And again : 

"This alone can keep them steady 
In the simple path of grace." 

The congregation ejaculates: 

"How great the bliss to be a sheep of Jesus, 
And to be guided by His shepherd staff." 

The last hymn runs: 

"O to sing with tongues of angels 
Strains that only angels know, 
***** 

More for us than for the angels 
Has our loving Jesus done; 
***** 

Our ovm Saviour ! God's own Son !" 

^ The "Amen, Hallelujah !" follows, and then the Love-Feast, with 
its tickets of admission, as at the covenant services of adults, its cups 
of strong coffee for the smallest as well as biggest child, and its ample 
buns. The Festival closes in the evening with a service in the church 
during which the children pass out of doors, recite a Litany and sing 
in the open air. The creed in the Litany speaks of the holy Christian 
(instead of Catholic) church. Glory is given to "that Friend who 
loved us," "who rose for us, that we also might rise." 



56 THE BARONY OP THE EOSE 

"To Him," says the Litany, "be glory at all times, in the church 
that waiteth for Him, and in that which is around Him." 
The young voices sing: 

"He's a Shepherd kind and gTacious, 
And His jDastures are delicious. 

* * * * * 

Should not I for gladness leap. 
Led by Jesus as His sheep ? 

Guide us by Thy hand 
To our Fatherland." 

Brightly-colored lanterns are strung in long lines from one great 
tree to another. The summer wind blows through the wealth of leaves 
on the broad branches, which bend and sigh over the children as those 
"breezes of the spirit" their ancestors wrote about. The story of Su- 
sanna I^iihnel and her sisters in piety, told in the church, has made a 
solemn impression. The clear, leading voice of the minister, the fresh 
innocent response of these Children of the Moravian Love-Feast, the 
whiteness of their atlire in the unusual light, the swinging lanterns 
and their soft candle-flame, the silent, attentive crowd of grown people 
spreading, in the dusk beyond, down the road and among the white 
hydrangeas of the square — make a most effective scene. 

The Friend of Children, as the Moravians sometimes address 
the Saviour, early moved the founders of ISFazareth to consider the 
young. Ephratah (the Whitefield House) had its days as a nursery. 

A little, old grace-bef ore-meat comes down to us in Nazareth Hall 
history : 

"Each crumb Thou shalt allow me 
With gratitude shall bow me." 

The name of the first child born in Nazareth has been carefully 
preserved for us and he was so thoughtless as to be a plain Johnny. 

A ISTazarene Eed-Eidinghood is also remembered, who went out 
to buy cakes for the Eose Inn from the old Nazareth Bakery, and was 
frightened by Indians instead of a wolf. 

Zinzendorf delighted to keep Christmas vigils with the children 
of Herrnhut. Pennsylvania Moravians on Christmas Eve, while their 



THE BAEONY OF THE ROSE 57. 

children are singing, distribute to them little wax candles, lighted and 
brought in on trays — to remind them of the Light of the World, the 
Sun of Righteousness. 

A lesson in training up a child with a reverent memory is indi- 
cated in the Whitefield Museum, where are framed letters written by 
Commodore Vanderbilt of New York, who is characterized as "a lib- 
eral friend of the Moravian Church." 

To baptize a child into loyalty and remembrance is a serious, 
lengthy and rather too stern an affair in Moravian Nazareth. Con- 
firmation is a far more glowing, inspiring rite. We give a word-pic- 
ture of a similar and recent administration of that sacrament in a 
Moravian Church in one of the largest and noisiest of our cities. The 
day is Palm Sunday, the church pale in its adornments — quiet before 
the last, ghostly days of Lent, but lifted from its mourning at the 
approach of Easter. We receive a book of worship at the door as we 
enter. We listen to a sermon on "The Goal Reached." The ministei' 
is robed in voluminous white. 

The candidates for admission to the Communicant Congregation 
are also in white and at the altar steps. They are told this is the most 
solemn moment of their lives. They are pointed to the "scarlet line" 
concerning the sufferings of their Lord, which winds through the 
prophecies of the Bible. They are reminded that they are about to 
receive, during the Passion Week, the "unadorned story" of the divine 
sufferings, as peculiar to the Moravian Church — ^bone of its bone. 
They are told that the cry upon the cross, "It is finished," referred 
to the pain of the human body as well as to the travail of the divine 
spirit. They are told that, although immunity from mortal anguish 
•cannot be promised them, the certainty is theirs that the Christian's 
soul can be lifted in spiritual communion not only to the very gate but 
to the very heart of heaven. 

"His kindness shall never leave thee," says the officiating pastor 
as he lowers and lifts his open hands many times above the bowed 
heads of the kneeling candidates. 

With great emotion he gives to each a special keepsake verse of 
Scripture, as Zinzendorf gave a watchword, night by night, to Herrn- 
hut. The audience is deeply moved. Its members weep. There are 
■strangers from other churches who have been received before the con- 
firmation service — among them a fruit of the work in the West Indies 
from Friedrichstahl, Saint Croix. With true Moravian artlessness the 
service closes with joyful singing, and a congratulatory basket of 



58 THE BAHONY OP THE EOSE 

flowers is carried up the aisle to one of the maidens among the Con- 
firmed. 

Irrespective of their creeds, the two illustrious foster-fathers of 
iNazareth— Whitefield and Zinzendorf — were blessed to the end of lif e- 
with childlike ardor. Nazareth still bears the impress of their in- 
fluence. It is a picture of the Old World painted on the New. Let the 
lover of landmarks go view the green, ancient Barony as quickly as 
may be. The greed of wealth is abroad in the land. Time cannot 
forever keep ungrafted in Letitia Aubrey's domain its beautiful rose- 
of Moravian simplicity. 



^^«s!s »— — 4 m^~- 



APR 2 1904 



